Lloyd v Google: Supreme Court unanimously rules in favour of Google

The Supreme Court has handed down its judgment in the case of Lloyd (Respondent) v Google LLC (Appellant). The Supreme Court unanimously allowed the appeal, ruling in favour of Google. We have been tracking the case as it has been progressing through the courts due to its potentially far-reaching consequences, testing the extent to which damages may be awarded to individuals for the mere loss of control of their data.

Background and Issues

Mr Lloyd, a consumer rights activist and former director of Which?, issued a claim alleging that Google breached the duties that it owed to over 4 million Apple iPhone users as a data controller under the Data Protection Act 1998 (the “DPA 1998”), during a period of some months in 2011-2012, when Google was allegedly able to collect and use their browser generated information as a result of a Safari workaround. Mr Lloyd sued on his own behalf and on behalf of a class of other residents in England and Wales whose data was collected in this way and applied for permission to serve the claim out of the jurisdiction. The three key questions addressed by the Supreme Court were…

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