Court case C/10/603827 / KG ZA 20-816 – Court Ruling (Netherlands, 2021)

The parties are related to each other. Defendant 1 believes that the takeover of the family business by her siblings was done to her disadvantage and that she is entitled to compensation. Defendant 2 (the husband of Defendant 1) sent emails to friends, family and business contacts of the business in question. That email described the Defendants’ side of the conflict, as well as also mentioned the names of all other involved family members, including the names of the wives of the siblings of Defendant 1, and the phone number of one of them. Can Defendants be ordered to refrain from processing of personal data relating to other family members with an order to pay a penalty of € 10.000,00 for each violation, to be increased by € 1.000,00 for each day that the violation continues? The Defendants argue that this prohibition is formulated too broadly and cannot be allowed. The Court ruled that in this case the sharing of the personal data via email or posting them on public websites/social media constitutes personal data processing under GDPR and that it was done without a legal basis. Given that it’s a family matter, the Court did not order the Defendants to pay a penalty. The Court ordered the Defendants to refrain from sharing personal data of plaintiffs, including via emails, website or social media posts, SMS or by any other means.