The High Court has granted permanent injunctions to Grant Thornton restricting Gerardine Scanlan’s use or disclosure of confidential information mistakenly supplied to her more than a decade ago.
The dispute arose from a 2013 data access request made after a Grant Thornton receiver was appointed over some of Scanlan’s assets. In September 2015, Grant Thornton sent her a CD containing her personal data. Through error, it also contained a substantial volume of material concerning thousands of other people and Grant Thornton’s business.
Scanlan alerted Grant Thornton to the error in October 2015. The firm asked for the information back. However, Mr Justice Conor Dignam found that after Scanlan realised the material was confidential, she continued to examine it, copied the CD onto USB keys, retained the information and disclosed material to Gerard Scriven and William McKeogh.
At least one USB key remains unaccounted for. The judge also found that Scanlan had made a hard copy of at least some of the material, or at minimum deliberately created the impression that she had done so.
The court held that confidential information can attract legal protection even when received accidentally. Grant Thornton was also entitled to seek protection for third-party information because it held that material under duties of confidence.
The injunction was narrowed to exclude material that was already public, including birth certificates, information previously included in legal packs for property sales and specific material which had appeared online in November 2015.
The court ordered Scanlan not to disseminate or use the remaining confidential information, to deliver up relevant documents and records, and to destroy, erase or delete confidential material still in her possession.
Scanlan also counterclaimed over Grant Thornton’s admitted failure to answer her original data access request within the statutory 40-day period. Although the response took about two years, the court dismissed that claim because she had not proved any loss or damage caused by the delay.