| Authority: | High Court |
|---|---|
| Jurisdiction: | Kenya |
| Relevant law: | Legal provisions reviewed |
| Type: | Law suit |
| Outcome: | Dismissed (with further directions) |
| Started: | 30 October 2020 |
| Decided: | 20 June 2025 |
| Published: | 30 June 2025 |
| Fine: | N/A |
| Parties: | Amalie Chopetta vs. CIC Insurance Limited |
| Case No.: | (Commercial Case E063 of 2020) [2025] KEHC 9058 (KLR) (Commercial and Tax) |
| Appeal: | N/A |
| Original Source: | Kenya Law Reports |
| Original contributor: | MZIZI Africa |
Amalie Chopetta sued CIC Insurance for unauthorised use of her image post-contract, alleging a breach of her data protection rights. The High Court determined the case primarily involved personal data processing without consent under the Data Protection Act. It declined jurisdiction, finding that the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC) is the primary forum for such matters, to which the suit was transferred.
The Plaintiff, Amalie Chopetta, filed a suit on 30th October 2020, alleging a breach of her image rights. On 28th August 2020, she discovered that the Defendant, CIC Insurance Limited, was using her image on its advertising platform at its Mombasa offices without her written or verbal consent.
She contended that she did not waive her right to privacy and that the Defendant’s continued use of her image after the expiration of an underlying contract was injurious to her rights. The Plaintiff asserts that her image qualifies as personal data under Section 2 of the Data Protection Act, 2019 (DPA).
She argued that the Defendant’s continued use of her image without consent constitutes a breach of the DPA, specifically concerning principles of data protection (Section 25) and lawful processing of personal data (Section 30) which requires the data subject's consent.
She sought general, exemplary, and aggravated damages, a permanent injunction against the use of her image, and the costs of the suit.
The Defendant stated that through an agent, ALB Limited, it had entered into an agreement with the Plaintiff to use her image for advertisement purposes for two years, between July 2017 and August 2019, for a consideration of Kshs.40,000/=, which was paid in full.
After the advertisement period, the Defendant contracted a third-party company, Good Power Management, to retrieve all advertisement materials from different sites.
However, they inadvertently failed to include the Mombasa region in the retrieval process and only became aware of this omission upon receiving a demand letter from the Plaintiff.
Following the filing of the suit, the Defendant attempted to negotiate and settle the matter outside of court with the Plaintiff, but these efforts were unsuccessful.
The High Court identified the primary issue as whether it had jurisdiction to hear the claim for unauthorized use of the Plaintiff’s image, or if the matter fell within the exclusive mandate of the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC) under the Data Protection Act 2019.