Supreme Court Recognises Claim for Damages for Emotional Stress Short of Psychiatric Injury But Not as a "Personal Injury" Claim

The Supreme Court judgement (of O’Donnell CJ, Dunne J, Hogan J, Murray J and Collins J) in Patrick Dillon v. Irish Life Assurance PLC which was handed down on 24th July 2025, considered whether claims for emotional distress as a result of a data breach falls within the definition of ‘personal injury’ under the Personal Injuries Assessment Board Act 2003 and whether obtaining PIAB authorisation to initiate proceedings was required. It found that such a claim did not come within the definition of a ‘personal injury’ claim. It will be interesting to see the application of this decision going forward to other potential claims in the employment law area.

Facts: The Plaintiff, Patrick Dillon, held a life assurance policy with the Defendant,  Irish Life. The Defendant issued in error six letters in relation to the Plaintiff’s policy containing  his personal and financial data between 2008 and 2020 and sent them to a  third party. The Plaintiff issued proceedings in the Circuit Court alleging that the data breaches were caused by negligence and breach of duty, including breach of statutory duty and caused him “distress, upset, anxiety, inconvenience, loss and damage”. This was due to the alleged breach by the Defendant of the Data Protection legislation.

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