Richard Lloyd -v- Google LLC – A Boost For Data Claims And Class Actions

The Court of Appeal yesterday issued it's decision in the case by Mr Lloyd who is a champion of consumer protection against Google. We had commented on the first instance decision here. Mr Lloyd had sought permission to bring a representative, or class, action against Google. Mr Lloyd makes the claim on behalf of a class of more than 4 million Apple iPhone users. He alleges that Google secretly tracked some of their internet activity, for commercial purposes, between 9th August 2011 and 15th February 2012.

The application for permission to proceed was refused on a number of bases but the most significant were that none of the represented class had suffered "damage" under section 13 of the Data Protection Act 1998 (the "DPA") and...