Criminal solicitor data breach compensation claims may apply when your legal representation fails to protect your personal data. We shall examine how a personal data breach like this can happen and how criminal convictions or a criminal record needs added protections. We also look at how damages are awarded and what you can seek compensation for in a personal data breach claim.
Criminal Solicitor Data Breach Compensation Claims Guide
The Data Protection Act 2018 and the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) protect your data rights. These laws mean that every organisation, business and public body has to handle personal information according to these laws. Failure to comply can mean an organisation is liable if personal data is breached.
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Select A Section
- What Are Criminal Solicitor Data Breach Compensation Claims?
- How Could Criminal Solicitors Breach Your Data?
- Sensitive Data Handled By Criminal Solicitors
- Correct Handling Of Criminal Records And Offence Data
- Criminal Solicitor Data Breach – How Much Could You Claim?
- No Win No Fee Criminal Solicitor Data Breach Claims
What Are Criminal Solicitor Data Breach Compensation Claims?
Firstly, what is personal data? Personal information includes any detail like your name, address or phone number that could be used on its own or with other details to identify you. Personal data relating to criminal convictions are given added protection under the UK GDPR.
Companies and organisations like law firms are often known as data controllers because they decide how your personal data should be processed and why. Under data protection laws, data controllers must always secure any personal data they process.
So criminal solicitors and law firms must protect and keep secure personal data they process about you, giving special category information and personal data relating to criminal records even more protection.
Under the Data Protection Act 2018 and UK GDPR, any organisation that needs to collect or use your personal data must meet one of the 6 lawful bases for processing.
In order to pursue criminal solicitor data breach compensation claims, you will need to show how the law firm or solicitor failed in their obligation to comply with data protection law, how this led to a data breach and finally, what harm you were caused.
There are 7 core principles of the UK GDPR that data controllers must follow:
- Data collection must be lawful, fair and for obvious reasons
- Data requested must be kept to a minimum
- Purpose limited
- It should be accurate
- Kept only for set periods of time
- Data storage or movement must be secure
- Everyone who uses this data must take personal responsibility to practice these principles.
How Could Criminal Solicitors Breach Your Data?
A criminal solicitor’s breach of data could arise after the loss, alteration, destruction or unauthorised sharing of your personal data in a security incident. Personal data breaches can be accidental or deliberate actions. They can also be caused through human error or cyber-attacks and breaches.
So how could this happen? Below we look at the situations that could cause a security incident like this:
- An email forwarded to the wrong recipient
- Legal documents sent to the wrong address
- A fax sent to the wrong person
- An unauthorised verbal disclosure between staff or solicitors and the general public
- Lost devices that contain data, such as laptops, memory sticks or smartphones
- Lost or stolen paperwork
- Documents left in an exposed or vulnerable way for others to see
- Failure to protect data when stored or transported
Any of these accidental or deliberate actions (or inactions) have the potential to create a data breach that harms you.
Sensitive Data Handled By Criminal Solicitors
A type of personal data is considered sensitive and known as special category data. This can be anything related to information about you, such as ethnic origin and ethnicity, medical data, biometric data and religious beliefs. This data needs more protection than general personal data. As well as special category data, personal data relating to criminal information also needs added protection.
Criminal data relating to an offender or suspected offender that is protected include:
- Criminal activity and records
- Allegations and unproven allegations
- Investigations and proceedings
Criminal solicitor data breach compensation claims can potentially involve any of this information. It might be an accidental human error or a deliberate act. You may be living with the reprisals or repercussions of a criminal data breach.
If so, get in touch with our team to discuss your case in greater depth in a free consultation where there is no obligation to use our services.
Correct Handling Of Criminal Records And Offence Data
Any party wishing to process criminal data needs to do so under the control of an official authority otherwise, a specific condition for processing it in Schedule 1 of the DPA 2018 must be met.
A lawful basis also still needs to be demonstrated. In addition to this, a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) needs to be completed if the data is high risk.
Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) should
-
- Describe the purposes of the processing also the nature, the scope, and all context
- Be compliant and have measures in place to assess necessity and proportionality.
- Always assess the risks to the data subject.
- Bring in measures to mitigate any risks.
Time Limit For Criminal Solicitor Data Breach Compensation Claims
There is a time limit you must adhere to when making a personal data breach claim for a data breach by a solicitor. The time limit for starting a data breach claim will depend on what type of organisation your claim is being made against. You’ll usually need to start your claim within one year if you’re making it against a public body. Alternatively, you will have six years to start the claim if it’s against a non-public body.
Please get in touch with our advisors online or on the phone today to learn more about your eligibility to claim for a criminal solicitor data breach. They may also be able to connect you with one of our No Win No Fee solicitors, who could assist you with your case and ensure your claim is started within the correct time limit.
Criminal Solicitor Data Breach – How Much Could You Claim?
Material damage examines the ways in which you suffered loss or expenses because of the breach. This may be because your details leaked and caused trouble where you live, forcing you to move. Or you might have suffered theft from bank accounts after cyber criminals got hold of your personal data. Keep all bank statements and receipts as proof to claim these damages.
Non-material damage can be claimed if you suffered psychologically from the criminal solicitor’s data breach. Worry, stress, anxiety, depression and even post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can all be a consequence of a data breach.
A Court of Appeal case: Vidal-Hall and Others v Google Inc, set a precedent for claiming non-material damage in its own right. The Judicial College Guidelines are used to help assess psychiatric injury in personal injury claims so now it can apply to data breach cases, as the table below shows:
| Description of Psychological or Psychiatric Injury | JC Guideline Award Bracket and Severity | Supporting Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Post-Trauma Stress Syndrome | £59,860 to £100,670 – (a) Severe Cases | Permanent and far-reaching trauma impacts that diminishes every area of life |
| Post-Trauma Stress Syndrome | £23,150 to £59,860 – (b) Moderate to Severe Cases | Seeking help can allow the claimant to recover some however there will be severe symptoms for the time being. |
| Post-Trauma Stress Syndrome | £8,180 to £23,150 – (c) Moderate Cases | A general recovery leaving residual symptoms that are not grossly disabling |
| Post-Trauma Stress Syndrome | £3,950 to £8,180 – (d) Less Severe Cases | There should only be a small amount of symptoms if any after two years in this category. |
| Psychiatric Injury of a General Type | £54,830 to £115,730 – (a) Severe Cases | A poor prognosis and permanent issues in areas of personal relationships, work and education. |
| Psychiatric Injury of a General Type | £19,070 to £54,830 – (b) Moderately Severe Cases | This bracket acknowledges a long-standing disability but with a more favourable prognosis than above. |
| Psychiatric Injury of a General Type | £5,860 to £19,070 – (c) Moderate Cases | Cases that indicate a marked improvement by the time the case may need to be heard in court or comes to trial. |
| Psychiatric Injury of a General Type | £1,540 to £5,860 – (d) Less Severe Cases | Reflective of the length of injury and any specific phobias or anxeity disorders that were created because of it. |
These amounts are just guidelines. Speak to our team to learn how you could have your criminal solicitor data breach compensation claim valued more accurately today.
No Win No Fee Criminal Solicitor Data Breach Claims
All our data breach solicitors work under a No Win No Fee agreement.
When you enter into a contract like a Conditional Fee Agreement CFA with a solicitor, it means there are often no fees needed upfront.
Cases that get a successful outcome only need a capped 25% deduction from any payout made. This goes as a success fee to the solicitors for winning the case for you. This means the majority of any compensation always goes to you. If the case fails, there is usually nothing that needs to be paid to your solicitors at all.
Learn more about how No Win No Fee agreements could help your criminal solicitor data breach compensation claim right now by:
- Call us on 0800 073 8804
- Contact us online for a callback
- Alternatively, we have instant chat, this is at bottom right for instant help with criminal solicitor data breach compensation claims.
Criminal Solicitor Data Breach Compensation Claims Resources
The links below offer further reading to this criminal solicitor data breach compensation claims guide:
- Learn more about what you can do after data breach
- Have you suffered a medical records data breach?
- Or read more after a data breach involving your bank
- You can read about data breach statistics provided by the ICO
- Tips on staying safe online from the Gov.UK
- In addidtion, read more on why your data matters
