Non-material damages for data protection violations – an analysis of German case law

Lea Stegemann of Noerr PartGmbB and Jakob Horn of Taylor Wessing LLP provide an overview of German case law on non-material damage claims following a data protection violation.

The GDPR, with Article 82, explicitly introduced claims for non-material damages (“emotional damages”) for data protection violations. In Germany, there are already thousands of court proceedings in which individuals claim non-material damages. Hence, data protection violations are increasingly being pursued not only by public but also by private enforcement, and claims for damages are becoming a growing risk for companies. There are already several hundred published judgments on non-material damage claims, forming a solid body of German case law.

To get a clearer picture, we have quantitatively analysed this German case law. Our study shows the extent to which German courts allow or reject claims and the factors on which these decisions depend. It can provide practitioners with an initial impression of the actual financial risk that damage claims may pose for companies following a data protection violation in Germany. Courts in other member states where there is not as much case law available might take guidance from German jurisprudence. At the same time, recent rulings from the European Court of Justice and the German Federal Court of Justice suggest that the case law presented here is likely to evolve further.

Continue Reading

International Report subscribers, please login to access the full article

LOGIN

If you wish to subscribe, please see our subscription information.

Subscribe