Last Updated On 18th November 2024. A divorce is no doubt a difficult and stressful time for all parties involved. However, that stress increases significantly if solicitors fail to uphold their legal obligations and a divorce data breach occurs.
That’s why we have made this guide to making a divorce data breach claim. We have covered key areas of the claims process, including what laws govern the protection of personal information, how, if they aren’t adhered to, personal information could be unlawfully disclosed during divorce proceedings, and what evidence you can use to support your claim.
You will also see a divorce data breach compensation table with some guideline figures for your reference.
In our final section, we examine the No Win No Fee contract our panel of expert data breach solicitors can offer their services under, and explain how you can benefit when claiming under these terms.
For more information regarding making a claim for a data breach claim by a solicitor, please contact our helpful team of advisors. To do so, you can:
- Call us on 020 8050 3051
- Use the live chat feature below
- Contact us online
Jump To A Section
- Are You Eligible To Claim For A Divorce Data Breach?
- How Could A Divorce Data Breach Occur?
- What Could You Do If A Divorce Lawyer Breached Your Data?
- How Much Compensation For A Divorce Data Breach Claim?
- Use No Win No Fee Data Breach Solicitors To Claim
- Learn More About Claiming Compensation For A Data Breach
Are You Eligible To Claim For A Divorce Data Breach?
There are two pieces of legislation called the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA) that are in place to protect your personal data. Personal data is any information that can be used to identify you.
Parties, known as data controllers, those responsible for setting the purpose and means for processing personal data, and data processors, those responsible for processing the personal data on the controller’s behalf, must adhere to these data protection laws.
If there is a failure to do so, this could lead to a personal data breach which the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) defines as a security incident affecting your personal data’s integrity, availability, or confidentiality.
In order to begin a claim following a divorce data breach, you must prove the following occurred:
- The controller or processor failed to adhere to the UK GDPR and DPA.
- Due to their failings, a breach compromising your personal data occurred.
- You suffered financial harm, emotional suffering or both as a result of the personal data breach.
Please call our team on the number above to discuss the eligibility criteria for data breach claims in more detail.
How Could A Divorce Data Breach Occur?
As mentioned, personal data is any information that can identify you, such as your name, address and date of birth, phone number and email address. There is also another type of personal data known as special category data. This is given extra protection due to its sensitive nature. It can include data revealing your racial or ethnic origin as well as data concerning your sex life and sexual orientation.
Below, you can find examples of how a divorce data breach could occur, compromising your personal data and causing you financial loss and/or mental harm:
- An email data breach occurs when your divorce lawyer sends sensitive data to the wrong email address despite them having the correct one on file. As a result, you experience anxiety and stress due to the nature of the data compromised.
- Your divorce lawyer fails to store your credit or debit card details, required for payment for their services, correctly. As a result, someone without authorisation gains access to these details resulting in money being stolen from your account.
To discuss your specific case and find out whether you’re eligible to claim following a data breach by your divorce lawyer, call our team on the number above.
What Could You Do If A Divorce Lawyer Breached Your Data?
There are several steps you can take following a divorce data breach, including gathering evidence to strengthen your case. Evidence you could gather includes:
- Correspondence with the organisation, such as a letter of notification detailing that a breach occurred and what personal data was affected. Organisations must inform you of a breach that puts your rights and freedoms at risk without undue delay.
- Evidence of any mental harm suffered, such as doctor reports.
- Proof of any financial losses suffered, such as bank statements.
Breaches that put your freedoms and rights at risk must be reported to the ICO within 72 hours of the breach being discovered. If they investigate, their findings could also support your claim.
Call our team to find out more about the steps you could take following a divorce data breach.
How Much Compensation For A Divorce Data Breach Claim?
Following a successful divorce data breach claim, you could be awarded compensation to address to different types of damage:
- Non-material damage: This refers to the psychological harm you have experienced due to the breach of your personal data. For example, you may have suffered distress, anxiety, stress, or post-traumatic stress disorder, in more severe cases, due to having your personal data compromised in a breach.
- Material damage: This refers to the financial losses you have incurred as a result of the personal data breach. For example, if your credit or debit card details are compromised, it could lead to money being taken from your account or purchases being made in your name. As mentioned above, evidence in the form of bank statements and credit reports could help prove any losses.
To value non-material damage, medical evidence and the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) can be referred to. The JCG provides a list of injuries, including psychological harm, alongside corresponding guideline compensation brackets. You can find a selection of these figures in the table below, except for the first row, which was not taken from the JCG. However, as each claim is valued individually, you should use the figures as a guide only.
Compensation Table
| Harm Type | Severity Level | Notes | Award Guidelines |
|---|---|---|---|
| Very severe mental damage plus compensation for material damage | Very Serious | Settlements could compensate for very serious damage to mental health and costs, such as lost wages, relocation expenses and therapy. | Up to £250,000 and over |
| General Psychiatric Damage | (a) Severe | Marked problems affecting several areas of the person's life with a very poor prognosis. | £66,920 to £141,240 |
| (b) Moderately Severe | Significant problems affecting multiple aspects of the person's life but with a better prognosis. | £23,270 to £66,920 | |
| (c) Moderate | Significant improvement and a good prognosis. | £7,150 to £23,270 | |
| (d) Less Severe | Consideration is given to factors such as how long the person was affected and to what extent. | £1,880 to £7,150 | |
| Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder | (a) Severe | All aspects of the person's life will be negatively and permanently affected. The person is unable to function at a pre-trauma level. | £73,050 to £122,850 |
| (b) Moderately Severe | A better prognosis due to the person receiving professional help and making some recovery. | £28,250 to £73,050 | |
| (c) Moderate | The person makes a significant recovery with ongoing issues, however, these won't be majorly disabling. | £9,980 to £28,250 | |
| (d) Less Severe | A mostly full recovery is made within a couple of years and only minor issues continue over a longer period. | £4,820 to £9,980 |
For further guidance on how compensation for a data breach is calculated, please get in touch on the number above.
Use No Win No Fee Data Breach Solicitors To Claim
If you wish to have a solicitor represent you when making a divorce data breach claim, you can get in touch with our team. They can assess your case for free and if it’s found you have valid grounds to proceed, they could connect you with an experienced data breach solicitor from our panel.
The solicitors from our panel can offer their helpful services, such as assisting you gathering evidence and building your case, under the terms of a No Win No Fee contract called a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA). This typically means that you won’t need to pay for the solicitor to begin working on your case as it begins, nor will you need to pay for their continued work as your case proceeds. Additionally, if your claim has a failed outcome, you will not be required to pay for the services your solicitor provided.
If the case is a success and you receive compensation, you will need to pay your solicitor a success fee. They will take this from your compensation as a legally capped percentage. Due to the cap, you can keep the majority of your settlement.
For further guidance on claiming for a data breach, please contact our team of helpful advisors. They can answer any questions you might have and provide advice for free. To reach them, you can:
- Call us on 020 8050 3051
- Use the live chat feature below
- Contact us online
Learn More About Claiming Compensation For A Data Breach
For more of our helpful guides:
- Read our guide for more data breach claim examples to help you understand when you might be eligible to seek compensation.
- Find out how you could claim for breaches of children’s personal data on their behalf.
- Learn whether you could claim following a social services data breach and how compensation is calculated.
For more external resources:
- Read about how to make a complaint to the ICO.
- Information for individuals and families on data breaches from the National Cyber Security Centre.
- Guidance on your right of access from the ICO.
Thank you for reading our helpful guide on when you could make a divorce data breach claim. If you have any other questions, please contact our team on the number above.
