Acciones colectivas en materia de protección de datos en Reino Unido (Parte II):Lloyd v. Google, ¿punto y final o punto y aparte?

Resumo

In their previous paper, «Acciones colectivas y la restauración de la legalidad en materia de protección de datos en el Reino Unido. Casos recientes (Parte I)» («Collective Redress and Restoration of data protection rights in the United Kingdom. Recent caselaw (Part I)», the authors evidenced the increase of collective proceedings in data protection environment, leaving open to the outcome of the Supreme Court ruling on Lloyd v. Google LLC. a further analysis of collective redress mechanisms (representative actions) under opt-out schemes and other related issues (such as the compensation of material damages or distress for loss of control over personal data resulting from any contravention of data protection legislation and its quantification). Finally, on November 10, 2021, the Supreme Court dismissed the availability of a representative action requested by the representative claimant (Lloyd) against Google. In the context of this landmark decision, this paper dives into the criteria for quantifying damages in the pre-GDPR case law, the relevant findings made in Lloyd v. Google LLC and their potential impact on other similar matters still pending in the growing English data litigation landscape. In any case, collective action litigation poses a significative risk for controllers and processors. Therefore, in an attempt to raise awareness and provide some guidance, the impact of the post-Brexit scenario is outlined; and some practical recommendations are briefly discussed as well.