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Court of Appeal (England and Wales) revives GDPR claims: no need to prove third‑party access; no seriousness threshold; non‑material damage must be well‑founded (Farley v Paymaster)

Published on: 27 August 2025

Published by a Law360 reporter
Legal News
Article summary

The Court of Appeal held that the judge at the lower court was wrong to hold that the data breach did not violate the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) because third parties did not gain access to the police officers' information.

Leading the appellate panel, Justice Mark Warby concluded that 'Each of the appellants has pleaded a reasonable basis for alleging that the respondent's mistake involved infringement of the GDPR', adding that 'Proof that the data were disclosed is not an essential ingredient of an allegation of processing or infringement.' The appellants comprise 432 serving and retired Sussex Police officers enrolled in a pension scheme run by financial services firm Equinti; in 2019, Equinti mistakenly sent their annual pension statements to out-of-date addresses. They issued claims for misuse of data and GDPR breaches, seeking compensation for injury to feelings and—in some instances, psychiatric injury—arising from third-party misuse of their personal information. In February 2024, High Court judge Matthew Nicklin struck out all but 14 claims, reasoning that most lacked a properly arguable case that anyone else had read the mis-addressed statements...

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