A judge has approved a €20,000 damages settlement offer by Irish Life Assurance to a nine-year-old child who, at the age of only two, was unlawfully photographed on her high chair in the privacy of her own home by an undercover investigator.
Barrister James Lawless told Judge Sarah Berkeley in the Circuit Civil Court today that little Erin Marsha Went’s mother Terry was being investigated by agents of Irish Life Assurance in relation to a disputed disablement Income Protection Policy when the photographs of Erin had been taken.
Mr Lawless, who appeared for Erin with Matthew Byrne of Burns Nowlan Solicitors, Main Street, Newbridge, Co Kildare, told the court the private detective agency had violated the child’s privacy, her data protection rights and the inviolability of her home.
The court heard that Ms Terry Went, of Season Park, Newtownmountkennedy, Co Wicklow, had lodged a claim with Irish Life Assurance under her policy and Irish Life had hired IBI International Bureau of Investigations Limited to carry out covert surveillance on her activities and movements.
Videos
Mr Lawless told Judge Berkeley that the IBI bureau, of Marino Mart, Fairview, Dublin, which was dissolved in July 2019, had on various dates in 2015 followed Ms Went and her baby Erin and unbeknownst to them had videoed them in Dunnes Stores Supermarket in Main Street, Newtownmountkennedy and in their car in Dunnes Stores car park and during other daily activities.
He said IBI had even covertly photographed Erin on her mum’s driveway, at her front door and, through a window, had taken pictures and recordings of the child with her mother and granny inside her own home. The recordings and pictures had been forwarded to Irish Life Assurance at its offices in the Irish Life Centre, Lower Abbey Street, Dublin 1.
Unpixillated images of the child had been retained by Irish Life Assurance which had entered a defence in which the company had not conceded liability and had denied any breach of the data protection legislation. IBI had earlier been dropped as a co-defendant in the proceedings.
Mr Lawless said Irish Life Assurance had much earlier made a settlement offer in Erin’s €60,000 damages claim of €7,500 which, on his recommendation, had been thrown out by Judge John O’Connor during an earlier sitting of the Circuit Civil Court.
Judge O’Connor had told him that given the covert recording and breaches and wrongs perpetrated upon the child that the court felt any settlement offer should be at least €20,000.
Offer
Mr Lawless told Judge Berkeley on Tuesday that he and Burns Nowlan Solicitors had come to court prepared to fight Erin’s case but at the last minute Irish Life had made an offer, without admission of liability, of €20,000 and he was recommending acceptance of it by the court.
Judge Berkely, who expressed her shock that photographs had been taken through the window of the child’s home, approved the settlement and awarded circuit court costs against Irish Life.
She directed that the money be entered in court funds until Erin, now nine, reaches her majority in 2031. The court may on application in the meantime direct the payment out of small sums in the case of such items as educational expenses for Erin.
Mr Lawless had told the court that Erin’s mother had not given any consent to the surveillance and had been completely unaware that it had been taking place. He had been prepared to open, among the seminal case of Kennedy v. Ireland in which the High Court, in the infamous phone tapping case, had vindicated the citizen’s right to privacy under the Constitution.
Irish Life Assurance’s legal team, having notified Judge Berkeley of its offer of €20,000, had to withdraw from court while the circumstances of case were outlined by Mr Lawless.
