Law firm mistakenly discloses privileged documents in SAR nightmare

Data Protection specialist Jon Baines examines a recent High Court ruling in Forsters LLP v Uddin after a subject access request (SAR) led to an "erroneous disclosure" of confidential and privileged documents. 

The court granted an interim injunction after the law firm Forsters inadvertently disclosed more than 3,000 pages of a confidential client file to Mr Uddin, their client's opponent in a legal dispute. The error occurred when a search for his name resulted in the release of privileged documents and personal data belonging to unrelated individuals.

The court identified this as a clear case of "obvious mistake", noting that the recipient should have recognised the error. Consequently, the judge ordered the delivery up and destruction of all copies. While acknowledging that the defendant could not un-know the information, the court prohibited him from using the documents or any derived knowledge in ongoing litigation or separate harassment claims. This ruling seeks to restore the parties to their prior positions and mitigate the impact of the inadvertent breach of confidence.

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