The High Court has ordered Bank of Ireland to pay a €350,000 settlement to a woman and her partner, who alleged her data was released to her estranged father who used it to find the couple abroad and stalk them.
Ms Justice Mary Rose Gearty was told the settlement, which was made without admission of liability by the bank, meant it would pay €275,000 to the woman and €75,000 to her partner to settle the matter.
The woman claimed her father used the confidential transaction data to track her down abroad and then “watch, beset and harass” her, causing her psychological trauma.
In her High Court case against Bank of Ireland, her father and her father’s firm, she sought damages for the alleged breach of duty, privacy and confidence.
The bank had claimed it was a stranger to much of the case but accepted the woman raised issues with it and the Data Protection Commission in relation to her personal data.
It had denied there had been any breach of duty and made no admission as to how the documents came to be in the possession of the woman’s father as claimed.
Following the involvement of the DPC, the bank moved to acknowledge that it had “fallen short of the standards” the woman should have been able to rely upon.
The judge was told by Senior Counsel John O’Donnell, for the two plaintiffs, that there had been an “unhappy and traumatic” history between the woman and her father.
Mr O’Donnell said she was a customer of Bank of Ireland and her father either accessed or was provided access to her banking details.
From there, he was able to trace the plaintiff and her partner in Spain and the UK while they were working there.
Her father would then inform her by email of where she was and tell her he would be at these locations.
Mr O’Donnell said that Bank of Ireland admitted falling short of conduct expected from a bank and that an order was made in February 2023 for a lodgement to the couple but time to do so had been extended.
He said the lodgement was now made and that €350,000 was to be split between them, with €275,000 and €75,000 accepted by the woman and her partner respectively.
As part of the settlement, Mr O’Donnell added, the plaintiffs will have their costs awarded in the case up to 9 October 2023.
He said the cases taken by the couple against the woman’s father and his business could be struck out with no order as to costs.
