Devereux barristers successful in first Data Protection Act case to apply Dawson-Damer and Ittihadieh / Deer
Akash Nawbatt QC and Chris Stone represented HMRC in its successful defence of a High Court claim that HMRC had breached its duty under the Data Protection Act 1998 in failing to respond properly to a subject access request.
The law relating to subject access requests is developing rapidly. Two important Court of Appeal judgments have been released in the last two months: Dawson-Damer v Taylor Wessing and Deer v The University of Oxford. For a summary of the Court of Appeal judgments see Chris Stone's article published in the latest edition of ELA Briefing.
The judgment of HHJ Jarman QC (sitting as a High Court judge) in Gaines-Cooper v HMRC (13 April 2017) is the first to consider and apply those authorities. The judgment provides further guidance on how a court will approach the issues of: what is personal data; what constitutes a reasonable and proportionate search; and the exercise of its discretion to refuse relief even where it has found a breach.
To read the full judgment please click here.
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