Supreme Court raises compensation for leaked health information

Hillerød Municipality must pay a woman 30,000 kroner in compensation after it mistakenly disclosed her health information to her husband’s former wife, DR reported Monday.

The Supreme Court ruling by five judges significantly increases the amount awarded by the Eastern High Court, which had set the compensation at 2,500 kroner.

A municipal employee made the error in April 2019 while handling the former wife’s request for access to documents concerning the woman’s husband.

The man and his former wife have a child together. He and his new wife had applied for financial support for the child to attend a continuation school, and provided the municipality with several pieces of information.

The information included that the new wife had been diagnosed with a serious mental disorder, had experienced several long periods of sick leave and was participating in a work-training programme.

The former wife used the information in a case before Familieretshuset, Denmark’s family law authority, where she and her former husband were disputing where another child they had together should live. She referred to the new wife’s mental health both in an email to the authority and during a meeting.

The Supreme Court found that the woman had suffered non-material harm because the disclosure of the private information affected her sense of self and honour. The court also ruled that the municipality had violated both data protection rules and her right to privacy.

The compensation was set at the court’s overall discretion. The woman had sought 55,000 kroner.

Husband denied compensation

The woman’s husband had also sought 55,000 kroner. He argued that he had been affected by the disclosure of information about his wife and that details about his personal finances had also been disclosed to his former wife.

The Supreme Court found that his right to privacy had been violated, but not seriously enough to qualify for compensation.

The ruling will nevertheless have financial consequences for the man. The Eastern High Court had ordered him to pay 50,000 kroner in legal costs to Hillerød Municipality, but the Supreme Court has overturned that order.

The municipality had been ordered by the Eastern High Court to pay the woman 50,000 kroner in legal costs. Monday’s ruling adds an equivalent amount to cover her costs before the Supreme Court.