"The English Court of Appeal has handed down an important judgment in Farley v. Paymaster (Equiniti) [1] on when compensation may be claimed for nonmaterial damage (such as distress or anxiety) arising out of breaches of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA). The case arose from misaddressed annual pension benefit statements sent to current and former Sussex police officers."
"The High Court had previously struck out the claims on the basis that there was no evidence that the statements were ever opened or read by third parties. The Court of Appeal confirmed both that disclosure was not essential for a GDPR infringement, and that claimants could recover compensation for fear of the consequences of an infringement if that fear was objectively well-founded, rather than hypothetical or speculative."
The Court of Appeal clarified entitlement to compensation for non-material harm under the GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. The claimants were current and former Sussex police officers whose annual pension benefit statements were misaddressed. The High Court struck out the claims because there was no evidence that the misaddressed statements were opened or read by third parties. The Court of Appeal held that disclosure to an unauthorized third party is not required to establish a GDPR infringement. The Court of Appeal also held that fear of the consequences of an infringement can support recovery of compensation where that fear is objectively well-founded rather than speculative. The decision affirms that distress or anxiety can amount to recoverable non-material damage when grounded in objective risk.
Read at DataBreaches.Net
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