21.76TLT v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2016] EWHC 2217 (QB)
Damages were awarded for the publication on the internet of the names and approximate geographical location of applicants for asylum or leave to remain
Facts: By mistake, for a period of about 13 days, the Secretary of State for the Home Department published on the internet the names and approximate geographical position of applicants for asylum or leave to remain. A number of IP addresses in the UK and abroad visited the website before the personal data was removed. Those concerned were notified and brought claims under the Data Protection Act 1998 and the common law tort of misuse of private information. One man, for example, experienced considerable distress because he reasonably believed that the authorities in his country of origin would have seen the data, placing his life and the lives of extended families members still in his country of origin, at risk.
Judgment: Mitting J noted that it was not in dispute that the inadvertent publication of the information amounted to a breach of the first, second and seventh principles of the Data Protection Act 1998 and the common law tort of misuse of private information and that a claimant can recover damages for distress for such a breach. Mitting J held that (i) individuals who were not named in the data, but who were identifiable as family members, could recover damages for distress; (ii) there was a de minimis threshold of distress below which damages could not be recovered; (iii) the level of damages should not be based on awards in phone hacking cases, where the media deliberately disseminated information for gain, but on awards for psychiatric injury suffered as a result of an actionable wrong; (iv) a claimant could recover for the loss of control of personal and confidential information but there was no separate/additional award, it was taken into account when assessing the award for distress. Mitting J made awards ranging from £2,500.00 to £12,500.00 for each claimant.