16 November 2021

Caroline Harbord comments on Lloyd V Google Supreme Court Judgment

Caroline Harbord, Senior Associate in our Dispute Resolution team, has commented on The Supreme Court's halt of a massive class action against Google over a data protection breach.

Caroline's comments on the judgment in Lloyd V Google were picked up by Edward Fennel's Legal Diary and New Law Journal.

Commenting on the judgment, Caroline states that "Large data controllers will no doubt be taking a massive sigh of relief. The judgment narrows the scope for group claims arising from data breaches where no material damage has been caused by the breach."

"The practical effect of the judgment means the Supreme Court has deprived the affected class (who have had their data stolen and commercialised by Google) of an effective remedy for this wrong, and puts the English courts at odds with the judicial approach taken by the US, Canadian and Australian courts."

"It is hard not to feel the Supreme Court has been unduly conservative in its approach, and shied away from an opportunity to impose a new check and balance on large scale data controllers."

Caroline is a Senior Associate on our Dispute Resolution team.

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