Matilda Battersby reports:
A housing association’s broker has been found liable for “breach of duty” in a landmark High Court judgment.
Watford Community Housing (WCH) brought a professional negligence claim against Arthur J Gallagher Insurance Brokers for failing to make “timely notifications” of a data breach to one of three of its insurers.
Deputy High Court Judge David Bailey found that Gallagher was liable to WCH for a “breach of duty” that deprived the claimant of up to £5m in potential indemnity.
In March 2020, one of the landlord’s employees accidentally sent an email that included personal data such as the sexual orientation and ethnicity of 3,544 tenants and employees to 3,167 recipients.
The court found that Gallagher did not tell WCH to notify two of its insurers of the breach until the coverage periods had expired – leaving the housing association without £5m of the cover it had paid for.
Read more at Inside Housing.