High Court rules individuals in England & Wales can sue tech giant
Google can be sued by individuals in England and Wales over misuse of private information, the High Court has held.
In Vidal-Hall & Ors v Google [2014] EWHC 13 (QB), the claimants won the right to sue the US search engine over allegations that it sold information on their browsing habits to advertisers without their consent, contrary to the Data Protection Act 1998.
The claimants, who all used Apple’s Safari browser, may now bring their case before the courts in England and Wales.
Delivering his judgment, Mr Justice Tugendhat said of the claimants: “They are individuals resident here, for whom bringing proceedings in the USA would be likely to be very burdensome (Google Inc has not suggested which state would be the appropriate one).
“The issues of English law raised by Google Inc are complicated ones, and in a developing area. If an American court had to resolve these issues no doubt it could do so, aided by expert evidence on English law. But that would be costly for all parties, and it would be better for all parties that the issues of English law be resolved by an English court, with the usual right of appeal, which would not be available if the issues were resolved by an American court deciding English law as a question of fact."
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