Data breach compensation case heads to the Supreme Court
Pepin Aslett, led by Oliver Campbell KC of Henderson Chambers and instructed by KP Law, will today appear in the Supreme Court for the respondents in the case of Michael Farley and 431 Others (Respondents) v Paymaster (1836) Limited (trading as Equiniti) (Appellant).
The case concerns 432 current and former Sussex Police officers whose pension statements, administrated by Paymaster, were mistakenly sent to outdated addresses, exposing or potentially exposing personal information. The police officers allege this was an infringement of the GDPR and that they have suffered harm, including in the form of fear as to what may have happened to their personal data as a result of the breach.
Paymaster succeeded in striking most of the claims out in the High Court. At the Court of Appeal in August 2025, the original decision of Mr Justice Nicklin in the High Court was overturned. Lord Justice Warby (with whom the other two members of the court agreed) held that there is no threshold of seriousness relating to harm caused as a result of a breach of the GDPR following a personal data breach. The court’s reasoning included following a line of decisions from the Court of Justice of the European Union.
Paymaster now appeals to the Supreme Court on the compensation issue, with the single ground of appeal being the question as to whether there is a threshold of seriousness of harm to be reached by claimants following a data breach. The hearing begins on 7th October.
The Court of Appeal judgment is available here.
The case summary from the Supreme Court is available here.
The link to the live stream is available here.
