A judge has given permission for 15,000 drivers to pursue a US style class action compensation claim against Arnold Clark over a dark web data breach.
Lord Sandison has allowed thousands of consumers to bring group proceedings at the Court of Session, Scotland’s highest civil court.
He has heard evidence that many customers of the Scots car dealership believe it didn’t do enough to protect their personal information.
They instructed lawyers after their data emerged online following a cyber attack on the firm’s IT systems in December 2022.
Lord Sandison gave permission to proceed following hearings at the court earlier this year.
Arnold Clark’s lawyer Roddy Dunlop KC asked for permission not to be granted to the motorists to proceed.
He told Lord Sandison that a similar action was being heard at the High Court in London involving other customers.
Mr Dunlop, the Dean of the Faculty of Advocates, argued that it would be more appropriate for the Scottish motorists to join in the English action.
However, in a written judgment, Lord Sandison rejected the arguments made to him by Arnold Clark’s legal team. He wrote: ‘Over 95 per cent of the group members in the proposed litigation are domiciled in Scotland.
Customers have been given permission to sue the Scots dealership over the data breach
Customer information was found on the dark web after a cyber attack
‘They entered into a contractual relationship in Scotland with a company registered here which was governed by Scots law.
'As a consequence of their domicile, the loss and damage for which they seek compensation was suffered, on the hypothesis upon which their case proceeds, in Scotland. Nothing about their situation has any nexus whatsoever with England.
‘The forum with the most real and substantial connection to the dispute, and that which is clearly more appropriate to deal with it, is this court.’
Compensation can be claimed from any organisation that breaches data protection laws.
Solicitors Thompsons previously said it had been approached by more than 5,000 people who have received a letter from Arnold Clark advising them that their personal data had been compromised.
Solicitors Jones Whyte, based in Glasgow, said it had also been contacted by more than 1,000 people and that this number was ‘continuing to rise by the day’.
Associate Dominic Ritchie, who heads up the data breach claim for the firm, said: ‘We are in the process of building a strong case and will be looking for significant compensation from Arnold Clark for our clients.’
The dealership said it had taken several steps to protect victims of the attack, including setting up a call centre with its credit reporting agency partners.