The Irish Circuit Court, in the case of
Cunniam v Parcel Connect Limited & Ors [2023] IECC
1, recently granted a stay on proceedings
brought by a data subject where non-material damages were alleged,
pending six decisions awaited from the Court of Justice of the
European Union ('CJEU') relating to
non-material damage claims. The Court held that not granting the
stay would substantially prejudice the defendants' case, and
would lead to the risk of an irreconcilable judgment being produced
by the Court.
Background
Article 82 GDPR, and section 117 of the Irish Data Protection
Act 2018 (the 'DPA') allows data subjects
or non-profit organisations mandated to act on their behalf, to
seek compensation for material or non-material damage suffered as a
result of a breach of the GDPR. However, uncertainty prevails over
the scope of the right to compensation for non-material damage.
