OLG Innsbruck - 1 R 182/19b
| OLG Innsbruck - 1 R 182/19b | |
|---|---|
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| Court: | Oberlandesgericht Innsbruck (Austria) |
| Jurisdiction: | Austria |
| Relevant Law: | Article 82 GDPR Article 99(2) GDPR § 29(1) Austrian Data Protection Act (DSG) § 69(5)Austrian Data Protection Act (DSG) § 70(1)Austrian Data Protection Act (DSG) § 1293 Austrian Civil Code (ABGB) |
| Decided: | 13.2.2020 |
| Published: | n/a |
| Parties: | Christian Wirthensohn Österreichische Post AG |
| National Case Number/Name: | 1 R 182/19b |
| European Case Law Identifier: | n/a |
| Appeal from: | Landesgericht Feldkirch 57 Cg 30/19b |
| Appeal to: | |
| Original Language(s): | German |
| Original Source: | [ (in German)] |
| Initial Contributor: | n/a |
The Oberlandesgericht (OLG) of Innsbruck held that the right to compensation in accordance with article 82(1) GDPR is subject to two cumulative conditions. They must be met by the data subject for them to have the right to obtain compensation.
English Summary
Facts
The plaintiff, data subject, argued that the defendant, data processor, had violated their rights by processing information about their political opinions, a special category of personal data prohibited from processing in accordance with article 9 GDPR, thus causing non-material damage to them. Therefore, the plaintiff exercised their right to receive compensation resulting from article 82(1) GDPR, asking for the data processor to be held liable for the damage caused to them by the data processing which infringed the GDPR.
Dispute
Should a breach of GDPR provisions by a data processor be automatically considered to have caused a damage for the data subject whose data was processed unlawfully, thus granting them the right to compensation as set out in article 82(1) GDPR?
Plaintiff
The plaintiff argued incorrect legal assessment of the case by the by the LG Feldkirch. Also, he argued that substantial facts of the case had not been established by the LG Feldkirch and that he should have been awarded the whole amount that he sued for (€ 2.500).
Defendant
The defendant also argued incorrect legal assessment of the case, as - in its point of view - there had been no processing of special categories of personal data and no actual (emotional) damage occured. It argued that the plaintiff had failed to state, why and in what regard he had actually sufferd emotional damages. Consequently, the LG Feldkirch had only found, that certain GDPR provisions have been violated, but had not establised what acutal emotional damage the plaintiff had suffered.
Holding
The OLG of Innsbruck rejected the claim and gave reason to the data processor, holding that the data subject had not sufficiently proved that they had suffered of a non-material damage caused by the infringement of the GDPR. The data subject should have been able to cumulatively prove the disadvantage in life and the impairment of personality rights that the breach of the law by the data processor caused for them. Only then could it have been considered that they had suffered a non-material damage and could they have claimed their right to compensation resulting from article 82(1) GDPR.
Comment
As the OLG Innsbruck rejected the claim soley based on the lack of substantiation and proof of the emotional damage sufferd by the plaintiff, it did not give any decision whether or not the claimed amount of € 2.500 was appropriate. Also, it did not give any ruling to the question, if the processing of the plaintiff's likeliness of his political affiliation qualified as processing of special categories of personal data under Article 9 GDPR.
This decision has wide legal and factual consequences. From a legal point of view, data subjects sueing for damages in Austria must ensure to subtantiate and prove the manner and intensity of the damages sufferd from unlawful data processing. This especially important for data subject's who also have been subject to the processing of the likeliness of the political affiliation by Österreichische Post AG (allegedly hundreds of thousands Austrian citizens).
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English Machine Translation of the Decision
The decision below is a machine translation of the original. Please refer to the German original for more details.
