Damages Awarded For Breach Of Confidence

An Australian court has, for the first time, made an award of damages to compensate a plaintiff for "mere distress" which had resulted from a breach of confidence. On the authority of this decision, it is no longer necessary to prove an actual psychiatric injury in order to obtain damages where a duty of confidence has been breached.

In Giller v Procopets [2008] VSCA 236 (10 December 2008), the Victorian Court of Appeal had to determine (amongst other issues) whether Ms Giller was entitled to damages for the distress that she suffered when her estranged de facto husband tried to show her family and friends videotapes he had made, initially surreptitiously, of their sexual activities.