Data protection

Google had sought to set aside the permission that had been granted to the claimants to serve their claim form out of the jurisdiction in their action which alleged misuse of private information, breach of confidence and breach of the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA 1998). The action for breach of confidence was set aside. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, dismissed Google’s appeal as the pleaded actions were clearly arguable and not pointless. The court held that misuse of private information should be recognised as a tort for the purposes of service out of the jurisdiction and that, in order to make s 13(2) of DPA 1998 compatible with EU law, that section had to be disapplied, with the consequence that compensation would be recoverable under s 13(1) for any damage suffered as a result of a contravention by a data controller of the requirements of DPA 1998.