Parish council discloses personal information on Facebook

The situation

Mr Matthew McConville at Irvings Law has successfully represented Mr David Norris (“Mr Norris”) from Walsall in an action for compensation against the Great Wyrley Parish Council (“The Council”) following their Breach of the Data Protection Act 2018 / General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Breach of Article 8 of the Human Rights Act 1998, Breach of Confidence and Misuse of Private Information.

On the 5^th December 2018, the Council hosted a meeting at the Community Centre which was attended by Mr Norris and 16 other individuals comprising of councillors, a clerk and a chairperson. Following this and on the 8^th January 2019, the Council posted minutes of the said meeting on its Facebook page. The said Facebook page attracts over 1,700 ‘followers’ and, moreover, it is a ‘public’ group page in that anyone can see what is posted on the page, rather than private whereby only members can see what is posted.

The said minutes that were posted were unredacted and included Mr Norris’ name; where he resides; the warning given to him regarding his behaviour and attitude, and the fact that he was already subject to a Community Protection Notice concerning his behaviour and approach towards a planning issue. Upon realisation of this, Mr Norris contacted the Council and requested that the post be removed from the said Facebook page but the Council declined so to do.

Due to this, Mr Norris raised a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (“ICO”). On the 3^rd September 2019, the ICO confirmed that the Council had not complied with its data protection obligations. Despite such findings, the post remained visible on the Facebook page for some appreciable period thereafter.

Representation

Upon receipt of instructions from Mr Norris and without hesitation, Mr McConville offered no win, no fee terms (as he does to all his clients) and then he submitted a Letter of Claim to the Council on behalf of Mr Norris alleging Breach of the Data Protection Act 2018 / GDPR, Breach of Article 8 of the Human Rights Act 1998, Breach of Confidence and Misuse of Private Information. Mr McConville essentially submitted on behalf of Mr Norris that his information should not have been disclosed in any event (never mind unredacted) and the Council had compounded this unlawful disclosure by disseminating Mr Norris’ information on Facebook and within the wider community. Mr McConville argued that Mr Norris’ privacy had been infringed, that the Council had breached GDPR and they had also breached confidence as well as misusing Mr Norris’ personal information.

Despite acknowledging safe receipt of the said Letter of Claim, the Council failed to provide a response to Mr McConville but he noticed that they had since removed the Facebook post in question from their public Facebook page. As such, Mr McConville advised Mr Norris to issue proceedings against the Council in the High Court in London where these types of claims are heard. Mr Norris followed Mr McConville’s advice without hesitation. With still no response to his Letter of Claim after this, Mr McConville then served proceedings upon the Council on behalf of Mr Norris.

Resolution

The Council then instructed DWF Law LLP (“DWF”) as their Solicitors in this matter. Seeing the obvious weaknesses in the Council’s case, DWF advised the Council to settle Mr Norris’ matter. Firstly, the Council made an offer of £1,500.00 (plus costs) to Mr Norris but this also included a confidentiality clause so that Mr Norris could not tell anybody about what the Council had done to him. In response and following Mr McConville’s advice, Mr Norris made a counter-offer offer to the Council in the sum of £2,500.00 and confirmed that he would not engage in agreeing to any confidentiality agreement given that the Council did not act confidentially when they breached his personal information. A few days later, the Council accepted Mr Norris’ offer without providing any Defence to his claim.