Did you know that there are different ways to seek justice after a data breach? Our expert solicitors look at the various means you can use to make a compensation claim and hold the guilty party to account following a data privacy violation.
1. Report a data breach claim to the Information Commissioner’s Office
Most countries have a supervisory authority to oversee data protection laws. In the UK, this is the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). If you’re unhappy with the way an organisation has handled your personal data, you can file a complaint with the ICO . You can complain to the ICO about a wide range of information rights including:
- Nuisance calls and messages. For example, if you have received unwanted marketing via email, telephone, or text.
- Official or public information. If you have had a problem accessing or re-using official or public information that you’ve asked for from a public body.
- Your personal information concerns. If you have had a problem accessing your personal information from an organisation, or if you’re concerned about how an organisation has handled your information, if the information is wrong, they have lost it, or disclosed it to someone else.
- Internet search results. If you have asked an internet search provider to remove links to information about you and they have refused.
- If you’re concerned about the use of cookies on a website.
- EU-U.S. Privacy Shield. If you have a concern about the way your data has been handled when it was transferred to the United States using the Privacy Shield.
While the ICO does have the power to impose hefty fines on organisations in breach of their data protection duties, it does not have the authority to award compensation to individuals. However, you can use the results of the investigation to support a legal claim, so making a report to the ICO is always a good first step in any data breach compensation claim.
If you do decide to make a legal claim, you don’t have to do this yourself. Our expert solicitors can help you to seek data breach compensation following an investigation by the ICO.
2. Make a data breach compensation claim via data breach solicitors
In addition to not being able to award compensation, if you do decide to wait for the outcome of an ICO investigation, it could take some time. The ICO investigates hundreds of complaints each year (even more since GDPR!), and each one takes time. So, if getting a speedy resolution is important, you might prefer to go straight to making a legal claim. If you do this, the proceedings can be started quickly and are often settled out of court.
At Keller Postman UK, our data breach solicitors can help you to make a data breach compensation claim after your personal information was put at risk by an organisation you trusted to look after it.
If you have already contacted the ICO about a potential breach, we can still investigate your claim. Our data breach solicitors will work with the ICO to gather as much evidence as possible to help you succeed.
In mass data privacy violations – where multiple people have been affected by the same data breach – a group action is usually the best way forward. This approach allows people with the same type of claim to bring it together on a collective basis. This strengthens their overall position and increases their chances of success. At Keller Postman UK, our data breach team has supported thousands of multi-claimant and group-action data breach clients, and we can do the same for you.
3. Make a data breach compensation claim on your own
You can make a data breach claim on your own. And, if you go ahead and no settlement is reached, you can even represent yourself in court. In fact, the number of people doing this has increased in the last few years. The legal term for representing yourself this way is called ‘litigating in person’ (LiP). However, while there has been a rise in the number of people taking this approach, this is often because they don’t think they have any choice due to a lack of alternative funding options.
At Keller Postman UK, we provide no-win, no-fee funding arrangements to ensure our clients have access to expert legal support without worrying about costs.
Helping to protect you
Victims of data breaches often find that their bank and credit cards have been used fraudulently. And, in many cases, their email addresses and other personal information finds its way onto the dark web where it can be accessed by cybercriminals who want to cause further damage. This can also lead to emotional upset and distress. The GDPR and the Data Protection Act give people a way to claim data breach compensation if this happens to them.
If you have suffered from a personal data breach, let our data breach solicitors know to see how we can help.
