Would I be out of order to report staff to court for data breach?

[2cubesoficeandasliceoflime]

A local sandwich bar gets most of its customers from the nearby courts and lawyer offices.

I was in there today and a group of professional people who'd obviously just been to court were talking loudly about a case. No names were given and if they'd been in an office, what they were saying would be considered perfectly professional.

2 of them were holding papers / files in a way that showed the names of the parties. The title of the folder made it very clear it was about children being removed from their parents.

This all meant that I knew the names of the people in the case, some of the history and evidence and the expected outcome. I guess its family court so extra sensitive?

I politely said to them "did you know you can see the names on your papers and folder?". I didnt comment on their conversation. They looked at each other, smirked and made a big drama of hiding/covering the names. I moved away, they laughed and continued the work conversation. I noticed that one of them put the papers name side up on the sandwich counter as they paid.

I dont know what their jobs are or where they work.

Would I be out of order to contact the relevent court (I'd need to google), give them the party names and tell them that professional staff have been talking about potentially confidential info in a sandwich shop?

What would happen if I did that? I don't want to make life even harder for those children.

Yes please do. Can you give a physical description? Remember any of the conversation? Include all of that. Times etc. And I’d do it in writing so it creates a paper trail.

I would do it with a description of the people if you can tbh. Such a lack of respect for people in a shitty situation.

I would find a way to report them, but I suspect its going to be hard to trace which firm they represent.

They don't know who was in that coffee shop, what triggers that audible conversation could have had. They have a professional duty to protect at all times - especially if children are involved- and this wasn't demonstrated.

The fact they continued to show the documents after being politely told by you shows even greater lack of respect for the duty of the family courts.

I doubt their firm would be impressed.

Papers? All bundles are electronic these days. If they were carrying bits of paper around they are beyond inept.

Yes. They had a ring binder and then a small pile of paper documents stapled together with a front sheet.

How will it impact on the children? Will the staff all get told off but the case continue or will they have to start the process again? I don't care about the staff, well I do but they should know better. I could understand accidently flashing the side of the folder but the rest of it doesn't have an excuse. I als.o don't want the shop to somehow be implicated eg everyone starts to avoid it because they think they are tattle tails.

The children are in temporary foster care waiting for the outcome before a decision is made about what will happen to them. I don't want them to suffer anymore. I don't know if these types of court decisions are generally made public? If so, they didn't seem to say anything that won't be in the public domain eventually.

If I knew where they'd work, I'd contact them but as it is, I'd need to work out what court and tell them. There are 3 court buildings. 2 are definitely courts, the 3rd may just be an associated building.

Will it be contempt of court? Would that affect their jobs?

I think you can provide the names and info you saw and overheard, description and time and date to the court. Careless and thoughtless people need to be reminded of how to behave. Thank you for looking after the best interest of these children.

Yes I would absolutely report it, not that much will be done about it I think as it would be difficult to trace the firm / people responsible. It’s likely the documents were court orders if they were discussing the removal of a child.

I understand mistakes happen and I work in a confidential sector, but their response ie the smirking and continuing to let the papers be seen tells me that this isn’t the first or last time this will happen. I doubt it would affect the current stage of the proceedings outcome (I could be wrong).

Hard copies of documents are often required at court.

Not very often. Sometimes a written agreement might be printed at court and signed, or if a protective order is made as part of proceedings that would be printed and handed to the respondent in person but all bundles in family proceedings are on caselines or similar. I've never seen a barrister with a ring binder or a bunch of papers. Only a laptop.

I think this is worthy of being reported, yes.

Could it collapse a whole trial? Because people were chatting in a cafe? I'm not sure really what I'd do. I guess I'd be scared they'd not use my shop anymore if they knew I reported it? But that's probably the wrong answer.

Yes report. If it was about removing children you presumably would have got an inkling which side they were on/representing. If they were on the remove children side they are likely local authorities solicitors so I’d report it to the LA too

Report it to the court. Tell them as much info as possible - the names of the people you saw and what was being said in the conversation. If you have it, get cctv footage too. Completely unprofessional and you tried to help them out and they laughed at you!

Depends if it's a trial by jury I imagine. Imagine being a juror, popping into a coffee shop before your day in court and coming across the solicitors discussing your case in open public.

You'd have to report it when you got to court. I imagine the judge would then be informed, who would then decide whether it would have a bearing on the case.

At the very least it's a GDPR breach and a breach of confidentiality. At the worst, it could compromise a child's safeguarding and/or any ongoing court action.

In terms of your question whether to report or not (I think you should, incidentally), put yourself in the shoes of the guardian or parent of the child. How would you feel if you knew your child's name was able to be read in public and you could overhear a conversation about the case involving that child.

I am involved in a lot of family court proceedings through work and have always had paper bundles for final hearings. Maybe it varies by location but 100% is the case near me, the judges often prefer this.

often solicitors rick up with a suitcase for the number of bundles as several paper copies are needed!

I guess it must depend on area. I attend 3 courts regularly as part of my work and nobody ever has paper bundles. It's extremely backwards!

Yes, you should report them. They know they should keep the info confidential. It’s highly unprofessional (and even worse because it’s children)