Sending data to the wrong person: the catastrophic consequences

Sending data to the wrong person can have catastrophic consequences for the victim, which was seen in a previous case that we settled for well over £25,000 in damages for.

The catastrophic consequences of sending data to the wrong person

In some cases, sending data to the wrong person might seem a small thing if the information involved is considered to be inconsequential. However, on some occasions, such data breaches can have catastrophic consequences.

Take some simple examples. What if private medical data like information about suffering from HIV is sent to the wrong person? That has happened before, and was the heart of the problem that we took legal action for as a result of the 56 Dean Street Clinic Leak. However, the case that we will reference below is not related to that, with the above just being an example. But, consider generally, what happens if medical information is sent to the wrong person? Now consider the context of it: what if sending data to the wrong person has wider consequences because of who the information was sent to?

It is context such as this that can mean the difference between an average settlement for a privacy compensation claim and a substantially higher payout to reflect the context and the issues that have arisen.

Over £25,000 settlement for client of Your Lawyers

Your Lawyers previously represented a client in respect of a matter where sending data to the wrong person had a catastrophic impact on them. In the matter, very personal and sensitive medical information was sent to someone that the client previously knew, which put them at serious risk. Whilst we cannot go into the finer details of the matter for client confidentiality reasons, the above overview should be enough for you to understand just how serious the matter was.

Unfortunately, the impact on our client was so significant that there were a number of consequences that went on to affect their life in many ways. As a result of this, our leading team of privacy compensation experts was able to achieve a settlement well in excess of £25,000 to reflect the impact on our client.

Whilst we appreciate that we cannot turn back the clock and undo any damage that has been done, we can achieve some form of access to justice by way of a claim for privacy compensation. Our average compensation settlement is just over £6,000 in damages, so you can see how this particular matter was so significant given that the payout was more than four times our average.

The GDPR and access to justice

The GDPR is not just there for organisations to make sure that they follow to have good practices, policies and procedures in place for protecting the information they store and process. The GDPR is also there as part of access to justice and can be used by the victim of a breach to claim compensation if they have suffered as a result of the misuse or exposure of their personal data.

Your Lawyers, as Leading Data Leak Lawyers operating in England and Wales, represent thousands of people engaged in compensation claims, and we have done for near to a decade. This is significantly longer than many other law firms out there and is why we are a leading name in this niche and complex area of law.

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