 Lee also sued for libel after he was described as a racist, seeking aggravated damages from two senior trade unionists and two journalists.In January 2006, ASLEF paid £30,000 in an out-of-court settlement to cover Lee's legal costs in the libel case, but Lee did not receive any personal damages.ASLEF subsequently took the UK Government to the European Court of Human Rights, claiming that UK law was in breach of Article 11 (freedom of assembly and association) of the European Convention on Human Rights.