British Airways data breach group action information

With the British Airways data breach group action getting the go ahead at the key hearing in early October, here’s a little information about the action and our firm’s position within it.

As a firm, our focus is on group action (sometimes referred to as class action) compensation cases, with consumer rights and data protection two areas of law that we specialise in. The BA Group Action is both a consumer and data protection matter, which is why we decided to take action as soon as news of the cyberattacks hit the media.

Since 2018, we’ve been taking cases forward on a No Win, No Fee basis. Given our participation in the action on the whole, we were appointed to the Steering Committee that’s responsible for the conduct of the litigation. Here’s a little information about the case so far.

Claims launch in 2018

News of the  cyber-attacks first appeared in the media in September 2018. Recognising that this was precisely the type of case that we specialise in, we immediately issued our notification that we can take cases forward.

We entered into correspondence with BA’s lawyers and liaised with other claimant law firms in order to move the British Airways data breach group action forward.

We have agreed to represent our clients on a No Win, No Fee basis. We’re not registering information or passing claims on, we are – and always have been – actively taking cases forward.

Application for British Airways data breach group action issued

Unusually, the actual application for the British Airways data breach group action was issued by the Defendant solicitors (i.e. BA’s legal representatives). Normally, it’s a claimant law firm that would issue this.

The concerning part about the application was that BA’s lawyers were wanting a short cut-off date for people to join the BA Group Action. Our concern was that potentially hundreds of thousands of people could miss out if there was only a short period of time to start a case.

We still get new enquiries from people who missed the deadlines for previous actions, and a short cut-off date could easily have led to this happening.

Key court hearing 4^th October 2019

The key court hearing that followed the application for the British Airways data breach group action took place on 4^th October 2019. This hearing was set to put in place the deadlines and the scope for the action.

Given we have been at the forefront of this battle for justice, we attended the hearing. We were successful in helping to ensure that the cut-off date to join was longer, which is now set for January 2021, and a GLO (Group Litigation Order) was given the go ahead by Mr Justice Warby.

Joining the British Airways data breach group action

Joining the BA data breach group action for compensation is simple. Check that you’re eligible to join on the website here, and then complete the information to start a case.

Take care! A number of law firms have started marketing their services since the formation of the GLO after the October hearing. Some may well be just registering people’s information, and not all law firms who claim to be a good choice even attended the hearing.

When it comes to cases like this, it’s always worth being vigilant!