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Group Email Data Breach Compensation Claims

In this guide, we will aim to provide you with all of the information you need to claim if you have been emotionally or financially harmed due to a group email data breach. 

Group email data breach

Group email data breach claims guide

Not every personal data breach will result in a successful claim. As per the  UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), which works in conjunction with the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA), there needs to be wrongful conduct on behalf of the data controller or processor in order to form the basis of a claim. 

A data controller decides the purpose and the means of processing personal data. Additionally, the data processor processes personal data for the data controller. 

In this guide, we will explore what else makes a claim valid. If you have further questions, our advisors are also available to help you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They can offer you free legal advice, along with a free consultation. If you would like to get in touch, please: 

Select A Section

  1. Is An Email Address Personal Data?
  2. Is Sending A Group Email A Breach Of The UK GDPR?
  3. What Could Cause A Group Email Data Breach?
  4. How Could A Data Breach Impact You?
  5. Settlements For Group Email Data Breach Compensation Claims
  6. Start Your Claim For A Group Email Data Breach

Is An Email Address Personal Data?

Personal data is any information that could be used to identify a person. For example, your name, phone number, and email address could all be examples of personal data. This means that yes, your email address could be personal data.

As such, your email address can be protected by the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA). Under this legislation, if you suffer harm because of a personal data breach, you may be able to claim compensation.

A personal data breach occurs when a security incident affects the integrity, confidentiality, or availability of your personal data. We will discuss how this legislation sets out your right to claim later on in this article.

To learn more about claiming for a group email data breach, get in touch with our team today.

Is Sending A Group Email A Breach Of The UK GDPR?

Sending a group email is not a breach of the UK GDPR if it is done by following the correct procedures. However, in some cases, a group email can lead to a breach of the UK GDPR. For example, if the email containing personal data was intended for one recipient but was sent to multiple by mistake, this could be a breach of the UK GDPR.

However, as we mentioned earlier in this article, there are criteria in place to establish what makes a valid claim. These are set out by Article 82 of the UK GDPR, and include:

  • Your personal data must be affected by the breach
  • It must be caused by wrongful conduct by the data controller or the data processor
  • You must experience monetary or emotional harm as a result of the breach

To find out if you could claim for a group email data breach, get in touch with our advisors today.

What Could Cause A Group Email Data Breach?

Here are some data breach email examples to help you gauge what constitutes wrongful conduct: 

  • A member of staff may use the CC field rather than the BCC field when sending a group email. Subsequently, your email address is exposed to fellow recipients. If the content of the email could allow other recipients to infer information about your health, this could be a data breach.
  • An email containing your personal data could be sent to multiple recipients by mistake. This allows them access to your data, despite not being authorised.
  • A batch email is sent out to multiple recipients, but the sender mistakenly attaches a document containing your personal data.

If you have been affected by a scenario similar to the examples provided above, please speak with an advisor from our team who can help you with the data breach claims process. In a free consultation, an advisor from our team could help you identify whether your claim is valid.

Email Data Breach Statistics 

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is an independent organisation that helps uphold data protection law in the UK. They collect and publish reports of data security incidents to illustrate data security incident trends. According to these reports, data being emailed to the wrong recipient was the most commonly reported cause of data breaches in 2021, making up 17.37% of reported cases.

How Could A Data Breach Impact You?

Depending on the severity of the group email data breach and what personal data it includes, it could impact you in a number of different ways. 

For instance, you might suffer emotional impacts, such as:

  • Stress
  • Anxiety 
  • Depression 
  • Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

To prove that you have encountered any of the above, you might find it useful to seek medical advice from a doctor or GP. This ensures you get the help you need, and the notes or records made by a medical professional can be used as evidence.

If your financial details are also compromised, you could suffer monetary damage. For example: 

  • Somebody may take out a series of loans using your credit card information
  • Your credit score might suffer damage
  • You might have to take time off work with stress due to the breach and suffer a loss of earnings

Please get in touch with an advisor from our team for more information on claiming compensation for a personal data breach.

Settlements For Group Email Data Breach Compensation Claims

The compensation you could be awarded for a successful claim may include two heads, both of which account for different areas. 

Firstly, you could be compensated for any non-material damage suffered. This accounts for the impact on your mental health that a group email data breach may have on you. For example, you might suffer increased stress because of a data breach, anxiety, depression, or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). 

We have assembled a table using compensation figures from the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG). This is a document that is used by legal professionals to assist them when valuing claims. 

However, these amounts should only be used as a rough guideline as each data breach claim is unique, and your payout could differ. 

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Injury Severity Compensation Bracket Details
Mental harm Severe £54,830 to £115,730 There are significant issues handling areas of daily life such as work or education after an unsuccessful treatment, which results in a negative prognosis.
Mental harm Moderately Severe £19,070 to £54,830 Includes serious issues similar to those above, though the prognosis is more optimistic.
Mental harm Moderate £5,860 to £19,070 There is a good prognosis in this bracket, due to the improvement of symptoms by the time of trial.
Mental harm Less Severe £1,540 to £5,860 This bracket will be judged on the impact the data breach has on lifestyle as well as how long it takes to recover.
Reactive psychiatric disorder Severe £59,860 to £100,670 This bracket includes permanent symptoms which prevents the injured person from functioning in daily life or operating at a level similar to pre-trauma.
Reactive psychiatric disorder Moderately Severe £23,150 to £59,860 A better prognosis will be achieved with the assistance of professional treatment.
Reactive psychiatric disorder Moderate £8,180 to £23,150 Despite a near-full recovery being made, there will still be some non-disabling symptoms that persist.
Reactive psychiatric disorder Less Severe £3,950 to £8,180 A near-full recovery has been made within 1-2 years, and the only symptoms that go on are minor.

In addition, material damage aims to reimburse you for any financial losses you could have sustained as a result of the breach. For instance, if the exposed data includes your bank details, you might have money stolen from your account, which leaves you in debt. 

It is useful to keep a record of all financial losses in order to be reimbursed for them. This can be done via receipts, invoices or bank statements. 

If you would like more detail regarding how much data breach compensation you could be entitled to, please contact a member of our team.  

Start Your Claim For A Group Email Data Breach

If you get in touch with an advisor from our team, they can assess whether you have an eligible group email data breach. If you do they may connect you with one of our No Win No Fee solicitors.

Typically, our solicitors work under a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA) which comes under the No Win No Fee umbrella. If you choose to enter this particular agreement with a data breach solicitor, there are generally no fees to be paid upfront or while your claim is ongoing for the services your solicitor provides. 

Additionally, you only have to pay a fee to your solicitor if your claim is won. This is a legally-capped success fee. But, if your claim is lost, your solicitor will not require a fee.

To find out if you could be eligible for compensation, get in touch. Our advisors are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to offer you free legal advice. To learn more:

 Related Email Data Breach Claims

Here we have provided you with some of our own guides that may be useful in regard to personal data breach claims: 

Additionally, we have included further reading that could be of help:

Thank you for reading our guide on the steps you can take if you have been involved in a group email data breach.

Written by Pascal

Edited by Hampton