Court case 29 K 7031/19 – Court Ruling (Germany, 2021)

The applicant complained to the DPA of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (the LDI) about the actions of the District Court of C. He worked for several decades as a civilian employee for the police authorities and intelligence services. In 2016, he was charged with tax evasion by the District Court of C. and eventually was sentenced to a suspended sentence of imprisonment. Following an appeal, the case was referred back to this Court. The proceedings there are still ongoing and are currently suspended. The complainant argued that apparently the investigation file, which had been received by the Court, together with the indictment, had been copied in full or at least a substantial part and distributed to third parties. These parties included journalists of the T. Zeitung (Z), who had reported on the allegations against the applicant in their articles before the case was known to the public. Moreover, the day before the opening of the main hearing, the newspaper again carried an extensive report using personal data from the indictment. Further letters also showed that Z had knowledge of the contents of the criminal case file. The complainant, by letter dated 15 December 2017, requested the DPA, to take measures against the District Court of C., i.e., to prohibit the Court from transferring the judicial files concerning him in whole or in part to the press authorities or to reconstruct the criminal file for that purpose. In response, in early 2018, the DPA replied that courts are largely exempt from scrutiny by the DPA. The inadmissible disclosure of court records falls within the field of jurisdiction or justice, not administrative action. Consequently, the DPA was unable to provide assistance within the scope of its competence. The authority in its letter did not indicate to the claimant how he could appeal against this position. One and a half years later - in September 2019 - the complainant filed a lawsuit requesting the enforcement of the GDPR by the LDI, namel