Today the Court of Appeal will hear a case brought by thousands of Morrisons’ staff arising from a data leak in 2014.
Morrisons appealed a finding by the High Court last year that the supermarket was liable for a data breach carried out by Andrew Skelton, then a senior internal auditor at Morrisons headquarters. He had been accused of dealing controlled drugs at work and it was alleged he had a grudge against the firm.
In July 2015 Skelton was found guilty of disclosing data relating to almost 100,000 members of staff by posting it on the internet and sending it to newspapers and data sharing websites. The data included bank, salary and National Insurance details of the employees. Skelton was jailed for 8 years in July 2015 at Bradford Crown Court and in December 2015 Morrisons were awarded £170,000 in compensation from Skelton having made a legal claim for the losses it suffered.
Existing and former staff of Morrisons and its subsidiaries then pursued a legal claim against Morrisons seeking compensation for the data breach.
On 1 December 2017 the High Court ruled on the case holding Morrisons liable for the actions of Skelton. Morrisons appealed the decision hence the case is being heard by the Court of Appeal. The Hearing is listed to take place over 3 days.
Blog by Richard Hardy, Partner
