The High Court struck out a claim brought by Dr Gary Duke, a teacher by profession, against Tameside College, a further education college in Manchester, and three of its members of staff.
The claim was brought in relation to four categories of information used and processed in the course of a disciplinary investigation: (1) Facebook messages sent to a student during a period of suspension; (2) a WhatsApp message sent to members of staff during a disciplinary process; (3) reference requests; and (4) alleged unlawful monitoring and surveillance. Dr Duke alleged that the use of and processing of that information amounted to a misuse of his private information and/or was a breach of the data protection legislation.
Following a strike-out and/or summary judgment hearing, Deputy Master Skinner KC struck out the data protection claims against the First to Third Defendants and the claims under the Human Rights Act 1998 and granted summary judgment in respect of the privacy claims and the data protection against the Fourth Defendant.
Deputy Master Skinner KC awarded the Defendants their costs and refused Dr Duke’s application for permission to appeal.
A 5RB case report will follow.
Gemma McNeil-Walsh appeared for the Defendants/Applicants, instructed by DAC Beachcroft.
The judgment can be found on the following links.