High Court judge rules Capita data breach caused harm to thousands in landmark ruling

In a landmark ruling for data privacy cases, a High Court judge has ruled that thousands of people affected by a Capita data breach can continue with their legal action against the company.

In a judgment handed down this morning (9 February), Master Dagnall dismissed an allegation by Capita’s lawyers that solicitors acting for over 8,000 victims had committed an abuse of process by using repetitive or generic terms to describe the mental harm they had suffered following a major cyber attack in 2023.

Barings Law, representing the claimants, said the decision cleared the way for its claims to proceed, and set a positive precedent for other large-scale data privacy cases.

Adnan Malik, Head of Data Protection at Barings Law, said, “This is a victory for the claimants in a long-running case, which from day one has centred on the rights of ordinary individuals against a major corporation which catastrophically failed to protect their privacy.

“For Capita to attempt to play down the seriousness of the impact was wrong, but today’s judgment affirms that the welfare of data breach victims is being taken seriously.”

Barings launched the case against Capita in 2023, following a cyber attack which exposed the personal information of 6.6 million people – including staff – such as financial and pension data.

Legal representatives for Capita had applied to have all claims struck out by the court, arguing that Barings influenced claimants’ evidence relating to the mental distress and anxiety they suffered.

However, Master Dagnall said that Capita had failed to prove that an abuse of process had taken place, noting that solicitors “had a real basis” and a “wide latitude” to prepare such evidence, and that clients gave their informed consent to Barings in order to proceed with the claim.

The judgment found that striking out the claims would have been a “draconian step”, and the strength of evidence would be determined in future proceedings.

Robert Whitehead, Chairman of Barings Law, said, “Barings continues to take its fight for consumer privacy to the very highest levels. Despite the stakes, we continue to pursue justice in a way that is affordable and accessible.

“Capita has played fast and loose with its customers’ privacy, and this has had an inevitable impact on the health and wellbeing of those people.

“We are encouraged by the decision handed down in the High Court this morning and see it as a vindication for the rights of our claimants and those in future data breach cases.”

The judgment notes that the case against Capita may now proceed, with further substantive questions around the harm suffered by victims likely to be examined at trial.