Compensation for breach of Data Protection Act: (nominal) damages and distress

A data subject whose rights under the Data Protection Act 1998 are breached can claim compensation, for damage that he or she has suffered and for any distress suffered in addtion. (In rare cases, the Act allows a claim for compensation for distress only, too.) In Halliday v Creation Consumer Finance Ltd (CCF) [2013] EWCA Civ 333 (15 March 2013) the Court of Appeal had to consider a case in which the data subject, Mr Halliday, had been awarded only nominal damages for loss of reputation, and the District Judge took the view that the claim for compensation for distress failed because of the nominal award. To succeed in the second part of the claim, he would have to have been awarded substantial damages under the first head, and the damages that he was awarded were general damages rather than special damages designed to compensate a particular loss. On appeal, the county court judge agreed with this assessment. The Court of Appeal differed, though, and awarded him a modest sum for distress: this was the first case on section 13(2) of the 1998 Act to come before the courts and importantly the Court of Appeal proceeded on the basis that compensation for distress did not require an award of substantial compensation for actual damage - that was conceded by the defendant (respondent) before the court considered the case. So perhaps it proves little, but as the first case in this rather important area it certainly merits comment.