Privacy Law Cases Privacy Law Cases

This episode examines the case of JQL v NTP [2020] EWHC 1349 (QB) in the High Court. After a family feud, a comment on a Facebook post revealed information about the Claimant that she had kept private from the majority of her family. Key issues: misuse of private information, breach of confidence in a family context, reference and meaning of a social media post, extent of disclosure, threshold of seriousness for Article 8 and damages. Other cases mentioned:
Murray v Express Newspapers Limited [2008] EWCA Civ 446
PJS v News Group Newspapers [2016] AC 1081
Axel Springer v Germany [2012] EMLR 15
Coco v AN Clark (Engineers) Ltd [1969] RPC 41
Attorney General v Guardian Newspapers Ltd (No2) [1990] 1 AC 109 (“Spycatcher case”)
Stocker v Stocker [2019] UKSC 17
R(Wood) v Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis [2010] 1 WLR 123
Lloyd v Google [2019] EWCA Civ 1599
Tamil v United Kingdom [2018] EMLR 6
Marsas v New York Times Company [2008] EWHC 3135

In Cape Intermediate Holdings Ltd v Dring [2019] UKSC 38, the Supreme Court examined which documents the public can access from civil litigation under CPR 5.4C. This episode goes through the findings of the courts below and the decision of the Supreme Court. Key issues: access to documents from civil litigation under CPR 5.4C and the court's inherent jurisdiction to order disclosure for the open justice principle. Other cases mentioned:

Barings plc v Coopers & Lybrand [2000] 1 WLR 2353
GIO Personal Investment Services Ltd v Liverpool and London Steamship Protection and Indemnity Association Ltd (FAI General Insurance Co Ltd intervening) [1999] 1 WLR 984
R(Guardian News and Media ltd) v City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court (Article 19 intervening)[2012] EWCA Civ 420.
Kennedy v Charity Commission (Secretary of State for Justice intervening)[2014] UKSC 20

This episode analyses the case of R(Miller) v the College of Policing [2021] EWCA Civ 1926, in which the Court of Appeal considered the police guidance on the recording of hate crimes. In this case, the applicant had objected to the police recording his gender-critical tweets as a perception-based hate incident. Key issues: controversial social media comments, the recording of perception-based hate incidents, freedom of speech and the definition of speech as a hate crime. Other cases mentioned:

R(Bridges) v Chief Constable of South Wales [2019] EWHC 2341 (Admin)
R(A) against the secretary of state for the Home Department [2021] UK SC 37
Handyside v United Kingdom Application No. 5493/72
Altug Tane Akcam v Turkey (2016) 62 EHRR 12

This episode analyses the case of Ittihadieh v 5-11 Cheyne Gardens & others and Deer v Oxford University [2017] EWCA Civ 121, in which the Court of Appeal considered two cases that involved data subject access requests. The Court addressed some key issues on this topic: the scope of the definition of personal data, the household exemption, the form of response to a SAR, the scope of the search that a controller must undertake in response to a SAR, and the court's discretion to order a controller to comply with a SAR. Other cases mentioned:
Durant v Financial Services Authority [2003] EWCA Civ 1746

Edem v The Information commissioner ([2014] EWCA Civ 92)
Ezsias v Welsh Ministers [2007] EWHC B15 (QB)
Jameel v Dow Jones & Co Inc [2005] EWCA Civ 75
Case C-101/01 Criminal Proceedings against Lindqvist [2004] QB 1014
Case C-212/13 Ryneš v Úřad pro ochranu osobních údajů [2015] 1 WLR 2607

This episode looks at the case of Lonsdale v National Westminster Bank Plc [2018] EWHC 1843 (QB) in the UK High Court. The Claimant wanted to know why his bank accounts had been frozen and sought disclosure of the evidence that supported a suspicious activity report by his bank to the NCA. Key issues: commercial decisions as personal data, applications for inspections. Other cases mentioned:

Shah v HSBC Private Bank (U.K.) Ltd [2012] EWHC 1283 (QB)
National Crime Agency v Abacha [2016] 1 WLR 4375

This episode assesses the case of Bull v Desporte [2019] EWHC 1650 (QB) in the UK High Court. Donna Desporte published her autobiography, which mostly focused on her relationship with the Claimant. He brought a misuse of private information and breach of confidence claim against her. Key issues: consent to publication, the Article 8/Article 10 balance and damages in misuse of private information claims. Other cases mentioned:
Murray v Express Newspapers Limited [2008] EWCA Civ 446
Gulati and Others v Mirror Group Newspaper [2016] FSR 12
Campbell v MGN Ltd
PJS v News Group Newspapers [2016] AC 1081
Mosley v United Kingdom [2012] EMLR 1
Couderc v France [2016] EMLR 19,
Murray v Big Pictures [2008] EWCA Civ 446
Dudgeon v U.K. (1981) 4 EHRR 149
Contostavlos v Mendahun [2012] EWHC 850 (QB)