- Enforcing jurisdiction
- Germany · Geography does not establish applicable law.
- Confirmed applicable legislation
- Privacy topics
Federal State of Bavaria – Court Ruling (Germany, 2021)
Privacy enforcement record
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A Bavarian court ruled that a lawyer did not violate data protection rules by submitting personal correspondence to court without masking details. The data subject argued that their personal information should have been hidden. The court decided that the lawyer's actions were necessary to support a legitimate fee claim.
What happened
The court ruled that the lawyer's submission of unmasked personal data was lawful.
Who was affected
The data subject, who was involved in a dispute with their former lawyer over fees, was affected by the unmasked data submission.
What the authority found
The court found that the lawyer had a legitimate interest in submitting the correspondence without masking personal data.
Why this matters
This case shows that legal proceedings can require the submission of personal data without alterations. Individuals and businesses should be cautious about how they handle sensitive information in legal contexts.
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The data subject is in a dispute with their former lawyer about the lawyer's fee claim. The attorney represented the data subject in proceedings concerning a traffic accident but terminated the mandate. A lawsuit over the lawyer's fee claim ensued. To proof his claim, the lawyer submitted the correspondence with the data subject to the court. The correspondence contained personal data such as car plate number, names, attending doctor, and the data subjects injuries from the traffic accident. The data subject takes the view that the personal data should have been masked before the documents were submitted to the court. In a letter to the lawyer, dated March 2016, the data subject complained about a breach of secrecy. The Bavarian Data Protection Authority (DPA) received a complaint from data subject in January 2019. In May 2019 the DPA replied that it considered the course of action by the lawyer not an infringement of data protection guidelines. Masking of personal data was therefore not necessary. The data transfer was a data processing under Article 4(2) GDPR. Legal basis was Article 6(1)(f) GDPR and the data processing was necessary to pursue a legitimate interest. The pursuit of a fee claim is considered such a legitimate interest. Article 9(1) GDPR specified that health data, such as injuries from an accident, are special categories of data. The DPA holds, that the requirement in Article 9(2)(f) GDPR for processing special categories, was fulfilled. The processing was necessary to exercise a legal claim. While masking of the personal data was technically possible, the data processing (without masking) was necessary to reinforce the fee claim with authentic evidence. Generally, it must be possible to submit unaltered evidence in a law suit. Otherwise any evidence would bear the risk of potential data law infringement. Courts and attorneys are subject to the professional duty of confidentiality, which the DPA considered a sufficient data protection measure for
Outcome
Court Ruling
A ruling by a national court on a data-protection matter.
Related Cases (0)
No other cases found for Federal State of Bavaria in DE
This is the only recorded case for this entity in this jurisdiction.
Details
Ruling Date
22 September 2021
Authority
DPA VGAnsbach
About this data
Cite as: Cookie Fines. Federal State of Bavaria - Germany (2021). Retrieved from cookiefines.eu
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