Distress and Mental Anguish

The law on pure distress claims is in a state of flux. Until relatively recently, only diagnosed psychiatric conditions could be claimed for in tort, and even then, the circumstances in which claims could be made were extremely narrow. Now several branches of the law are developing in parallel: claims for pure distress under the GDPR, claims for distress caused by invasion of privacy and, the most wide-reaching, claims under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

We are seeing a growing body of English law cases awarding damages for distress, as well as on going developments at a European level, and with liability wording 10 years behind, there is a need to navigate this risk now. Take a look at our content below for specialist guidance.