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Gym Data Breach – How To Claim Compensation
By Max Mitrovic. Last Updated 24th June 2024. If your personal data has been exposed by a gym data breach, you could be entitled to make a claim. You would need to show that the breach was caused by the failings of the party processing the data.
Organisations that process your personal data have a responsibility to protect it. This is set out in the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and an updated version of the Data Protection Act 2018.
If they fail to follow the rules set out in these regulations around handling and processing personal data, a breach could occur. This could cause financial and emotional harm.
If you have been affected by a gym data breach, we may be able to help. Get in touch with one of our experts today by:
- Calling 0800 073 8804
- Filling out our online claim form
- Using our live chat on the page now
Select A Section
- What Is A Gym Data Breach?
- What Data Do Gyms Hold?
- How Could You Be Affected By A Gym Data Breach?
- What Evidence Do I Need To Prove A Gym Data Breach Compensation Claim?
- How Much Compensation Can You Claim?
- How To Claim For A Gym Data Breach
What Is A Gym Data Breach?
Personal data is any information that can be used to identify a natural person. Personal data can also be data that cannot identify you directly but can be used alongside other information to identify you.
A data breach occurs when a security incident leads to the confidentiality, integrity or availability of personal data being affected. A data breach can either be deliberate or caused by human error, but it must have resulted from the failings of the organisation that was processing your data.
To make a claim, you must show that you have suffered material and/or non-material damage because of the data breach. Material damage relates to financial loss, such as someone stealing your credit card information, impacting your credit score. Non-material damage refers to harm to your mental health, like stress, anxiety or depression brought about as a result of the breach.
Read on to find out more about how the gym could breach your data protection rights and how much compensation you could be entitled to. If you have any questions about your claim, don’t hesitate to get in touch with one of our experts.
What Data Do Gyms Hold?
Gyms can hold various types of your personal data, whether you are a client or an employee. Potential gym data could include:
- Names
- Email addresses
- Dates of birth
- Postal addresses
- Financial details, such as bank account details
- Phone numbers
If information like the examples listed above are exposed as part of a data breach by a gym, it could negatively impact your life. If the breach was caused by a third party mishandling your data, and it led to either material losses or psychological injuries, you may be able to claim compensation.
You may also be looking to make a gym data breach claim if some of your special category data is stolen, lost or mishandled. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) independently regulates data subject rights in the UK. As part of this, they explain what different types of personal data are, including that special category data is more sensitive and can include:
- Information about your race or ethnicity
- Biometric data which can be used for identification purposes. This can include fingerprints, for instance.
- Health data. This can detail any health conditions you have and so can be of a very sensitive nature.
Businesses in the UK must adhere to the rules and regulations detailed by the ICO when processing sensitive personal data. If you would like to know more about claiming for a gym data breach, please contact us for free using the details above.
How Could You Be Affected By A Gym Data Breach?
As we’ve already mentioned, you can experience material and non-material damages as the result of a breach. You can receive compensation for both of these individually as well as together.
If your personal data is exposed in a gym data breach, then this could cause you psychological suffering. You may feel distressed and upset. In some cases, for example, if you had an abusive ex-partner, this could pose a risk to your well-being and could cause you to be anxious and depressed.
Alongside psychological damage, data breaches can create financial difficulties. If your gym is hacked by a criminal enterprise or another malicious third party, they could use your data to steal your identity which can then affect your credit score. You might also have to move to a different gym to protect your identity, which could cause you to incur joining fees.
To find out more about your options if you have been the victim of a gym data breach, get in touch with one of our advisors today.
What Evidence Do I Need To Prove A Gym Data Breach Compensation Claim?
In order to make a claim for the harm caused by a gym data breach, you need to provide evidence. This could include:
- Bank statements and financial records if money has been stolen from your account
- Correspondence between you and the gym if you’ve raised your concerns with them and they’ve confirmed that a breach has taken place
- Medical records if the data breach has affected your mental health
If a data breach happens that threatens the rights and freedoms of the data subject, then they should be informed without undue delay and the breach should be reported to the ICO. If you’re worried about how a gym is using your personal data, then you can raise your concerns with them.
You can report a data breach to the ICO if you’re not happy with the response from the organisation. You should do this within 3 months of the last meaningful communication you had with them. If you wait any longer, they might not look into it for you.
For more information on the evidence you could use to support your claim, speak with an advisor today. They can offer you free legal advice. They may also be able to provide you with a solicitor.
How Much Compensation Can You Claim?
You can claim data breach compensation for both material and non-material damage because of a data breach. As explained above, material damage relates to the financial loss that the breach has caused.
Non-material damage includes all the psychological effects of a data breach, like anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder. For example, you might have trouble sleeping as a result of the breach.
You can claim compensation for non-material damage even if you haven’t suffered any financial loss because of a ruling in the Court of Appeal case Vidal-Hall and others v Google. Previously, the breach must have affected you financially in order to claim for mental harm.
The table below, which we have produced using the 2022 edition of the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG), includes guideline compensation brackets for mental injuries. Although usually used by legal professionals to value personal injury claims, the case of Gulati vs MGN means that it can also be used in data breach claims.
| Injury | Potential Award | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Psychiatric Injury: Severe | £54,830 to £115,730 | There’s significant difficulty dealing with a number of aspects of life. Prognosis will be very poor. |
| Psychiatric Injury: Moderately Severe | £19,070 to £54,830 | Significant problems dealing with many aspects of life but the prognosis is better than in more serious cases. |
| Psychiatric Injury: Moderate | £5,860 to £19,070 | Improvement will be seen and the prognosis will be positive. |
| Psychiatric Injury: Less Severe | £1,540 to £5,860 | Amount awarded will consider how disabling the injury was and the level to which it affected your day to day life. |
| Anxiety After Trauma: Severe | £59,860 to £100,670 | Permanent repercussions to the extent that the person can’t work at all or function the way they did before their illness. |
| Anxiety After Trauma: Moderately Severe | £23,150 to £59,860 | Repercussions will result in disability for the foreseeable future, despite a more positive prognosis for recovery with the help of a medical professional. |
| Anxiety After Trauma: Moderate | £8,180 to £23,150 | Largely recovered and no residual effects that are disabling. |
| Anxiety After Trauma: Less Severe | Up to £8,180 | A full or near-full recovery from the condition within a year or two. |
For more information on how much compensation you could receive, please speak with an advisor today for more information. They could offer free legal advice and may also be able to connect you with a solicitor.
How To Claim For A Gym Data Breach
If you have been a victim of a gym data breach and have sustained mental and/or emotional harm as a result, our data breach solicitors are here to help.
They can offer representation on a No Win No Fee basis. This means:
- There’s nothing to pay upfront
- You don’t make any payments as they work on your claim
- If your claim is not a success, you won’t pay for your lawyer’s services
- In the event of a successful claim. your lawyer will take a legally-capped percentage from your settlement amount.
You can contact us by:
- Calling us on 0800 073 8804
- Filling out our online claim form
- Speaking via our live chat
Related Leisure Accident And Data Breach Claims
Below are some more of our guides that you might find helpful:
- Pharmacy data breach compensation claims
- Optician data breach compensation claims
- Hotel data breach claims
- Sickness At Work Data Breach Compensation Claims
- UK GDPR Breach Compensation Claims
- Child Custody Data Breach Claims
- Estate Agent Data Breach Claims
- Discrimination Data Breach Claims
We’ve also included the resources below from other sites:
- ICO page on action they’ve taken
- National Cyber Security Centre- Information for individuals
- Information on anxiety from the NHS
For more information on making a gym data breach claim, speak with an advisor today.
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