Dawson - Damer & Ors – Court Ruling (United Kingdom, 2017)
Court ruling (pre-GDPR, Directive 95/46/EC)
This national court ruling predates the GDPR and interprets earlier data protection law. It is excluded from cookie statistics and the Risk Calculator.
In the UK, the Court of Appeal ruled that a law firm did not have to disclose certain personal data because it was protected by legal privilege. This decision is important for businesses handling sensitive data, as it clarifies when they can refuse data access requests. It highlights the balance between privacy rights and legal confidentiality.
What happened
The Court of Appeal decided that personal data protected by legal privilege did not have to be disclosed in response to a data access request.
Who was affected
Beneficiaries under a trust who requested access to their personal data held by a law firm.
What the authority found
The court ruled that legal privilege limited the disclosure of personal data, and the firm was not required to comply with the access request.
Why this matters
This ruling clarifies the scope of legal privilege in data access requests, helping businesses understand when they can withhold data. It emphasizes the need to balance privacy rights with legal confidentiality.
National Law Articles
This case concerns a data subject access request (SAR) under the Data Protection Act (DPA) 1998. The data subjects were beneficiaries under a trust. The data controller was a firm of solicitors, holding trust money as trustees. Following the appointment of further trustees and transfer of trust money into a new trust for other discretionary beneficiaries, the data subjects challenged the validity of these appointments and served the data controller with a SAR under section 7(2) DPA 1998. The data controller refused to make the disclosure, stating that the personal data was covered by Legal Professional Privilege (LPP), and therefore exempted from disclosure under Schedule 7 para. 10 DPA 1998. Furthermore, the data controller asserted that the supply of information required a disproportionate effort. The data subjects contended that many categories of personal data held by the data controller were not privileged and that, if any, the only privilege on which the data controller could rely was litigation privilege. The data subjects applied to the court for a declaration under section 7(9) DPA 1998 that the data controller had not complied with the request and to oblige the data controller to comply with the SAR. At trial, the court agreed with the data controller and refused to make such an order. The appellate court had to determine: # whether, taking a narrow view, the LLP exception is limited to documents subject only to legal professional privilege under English law; # whether, if the narrow view is correct, any further search would involve "disproportionate effort" for the purposes of section 8(2) DPA 1998 so that the data controller is excused from doing so; # whether the exercise of the court’s discretion under section 7(9) DPA 1998 can be refused because the data subject's real motive was to use the information in legal proceedings against the data controller. The Court of Appeal held that 'privilege' in the LLP exception is limited to legal professional pri
Outcome
Court Ruling
A ruling by a national court on a data-protection matter.
Related Cases (0)
No other cases found for Dawson - Damer & Ors in UK
This is the only recorded case for this entity in this jurisdiction.
Details
About this data
Cite as: Cookie Fines. Dawson - Damer & Ors - United Kingdom (2017). Retrieved from cookiefines.eu
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