Anton Chirkunov v Person(s) Unknown & Anor
| Court | King's Bench Division |
| Judge | Mr Justice Nicklin |
| Neutral Citation | [2024] EWHC 3177 (KB) |
| Date | 11 December 2024 |
| Year | 2024 |
| Counsel | Ian Helme |
Neutral Citation Number: [2024] EWHC 3177 (KB)
Case No: KB-2024-002814
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
KING’S BENCH DIVISION
MEDIA & COMMUNICATIONS LIST
Royal Courts of Justice
Strand, London, WC2A 2LL
Date: 11 December 2024
Before :
THE HONOURABLE MR JUSTICE NICKLIN
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Between :
Anton Chirkunov Claimant
- and -
(1) Person(s) Unknown
(being the person or persons responsible for the
publication of a webpage referring to the Claimant
on the website www.rucriminal.info)
(2) Person(s) Unknown
(being the person or persons responsible for the
publication of a webpage referring to the Claimant
on the website www.talk-finance.co.uk) Defendants
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Ian Helme (instructed by Taylor Wessing LLP) for the Claimant
The Defendants did not attend and were not represented
Hearing date: 21 November 2024
Further written submissions: 29 November 2024
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Approved Judgment
This judgment was handed down remotely at 10.00am on 11 December 2024 by circulation
to the parties or their representatives by e-mail and by release to the National Archives.
MR JUSTICE NICKLIN
Approved Judgment
Chirkunov -v- Persons Unknown
Mr Justice Nicklin :
1. This is a data protection claim. The Claimant alleges several breaches of the UK
General Data Protection Regulation (“UK GDPR”) arising from the original and
continued publication of the following articles, on separate websites:
(1) an article, under the headline “Free Wheely: How the former governor of the
Perm Territory Chirkunov gave his son a dream job”, published from
13 January 2021 (“the First Article”) on the website rucriminal.info
(“the rucriminal Website”); and
(2) an article, under the headline “Anton Chirkunov, Daria Tarasenkova and
Wheely company: an expensive toy for children of oligarchy”, published from
19 June 2023 (“the Second Article”) on the website www.talk-finance.co.uk
(“the Talk Finance Website”).
The Claimant’s case is that, save for minor details, substantially the First and Second
Articles are in the same terms. It is not necessary, nor is it appropriate, to set out the
terms of the two Articles in this judgment.
A: The Claim
(1) Claim Form
2. The Claim Form was issued on 29 August 2024. The Defendants were identified as
follows:
(1) The First Defendant:
“Person(s) Unknown (being the person or persons responsible for the
publication of a webpage referring to the Claimant on the website
www.rucriminal.info (sic))”.
(2) The Second Defendant:
“Person(s) Unknown (being the person or persons responsible for the
publication of a webpage referring to the Claimant on the website
http://www.talk-finance.co.uk)”.
3. The Claim Form did not state the address of either Defendant. Instead, an email
address for each Defendant was provided in the box on the Claim Form where the
Defendants’ addresses for service were required to be provided. Pursuant to CPR
PD16 §2.2, the Claim Form is required to include the address at which each
Defendant lives or carries on business, together with a postcode.
4. The address is important, not least because the domicile of a defendant is relevant to
jurisdiction. Where a defendant is domiciled outside England & Wales, a claimant
may require the Court’s permission to serve the Claim Form outside the jurisdiction.
If the address of the defendant stated on the Claim Form is outside the jurisdiction, it
will be stamped to indicate that it is not to be served out of the jurisdiction.
MR JUSTICE NICKLIN
Approved Judgment
Chirkunov -v- Persons Unknown
5. If a Claim Form does not include the full address (including postcode) for all parties
to the claim, then the Claim Form will be issued but will be retained by the Court (and
not served) until the claimant has supplied a full address, including postcode, or the
Court has dispensed with the requirement to do so: CPR PD16 §2.3. If the claimant
cannot provide the address, as required, an application for alternative service of the
Claim Form under CPR 6.15 will also usually be required.
6. In this case, the Court did not retain the Claim Form; it was provided to the Claimant.
That should not have happened, but no harm has been caused because the Claimant
has not purported to serve the Claim Form on either Defendant.
(2) Particulars of Claim
7. Particulars of Claim, dated 20 August 2024, were filed with the Court on 29 August
2024. They erroneously state that they were “served” on 20 August 2024. They have
not been served.
8. In the Particulars of Claim, the Claimant is described as the founder and Chief
Executive Officer of Wheely Ltd, which operates a “luxury ride-hailing service”.
The Claimant is a Swiss national who has lived in London since April 2020. He is a
resident of the UK and has “pre-settled status”.
9. The Particulars of Claim contain no more, by way of identifying material about the
Defendants, beyond that contained in the Claim Form. As to the Websites, on which
the Articles appear, the Claimant states:
“The Websites are published anonymously, and the identity of the Defendants is
unknown to the Claimant. Each of the Defendants appears to have taken steps to
conceal their identity and has failed to identify themselves when requested to do
so by the Claimant’s solicitors in correspondence… To the best of the Claimant’s
knowledge, there is no registered data controller in respect of either Website on
the register maintained by the Information Commissioner’s Office”.
10. The Claimant contends that the First and Second Articles contain his personal data
within the terms of Article 4(1) of the UK GDPR and/or the Data Protection Act
2018. The Claimant alleges that, in material respects, the data are inaccurate, and that
the Defendants have been processing this data by making it available via the
published Articles on the two Websites. It is alleged – but without particulars – that,
in respect of this processing, the Defendants “were and are the data controllers for
the purposes of [the Data Protection Act 2018] and Article 4(7) of the UK GDPR”. I
would note that not everyone who falls within the current definition of ‘Persons
Unknown’ in the Claim Form would necessarily be a data controller for data
protection purposes (see further [79] below).
11. Reference is made to, and reliance placed upon, letters of complaint sent to the
Defendants, in early January 2024, in which the Claimant sought erasure of the
personal data from the two Articles that was alleged to be inaccurate.
12. The Claimant contends that “the wrongful processing of [his personal data] by the
Defendants has caused the Claimant serious distress and anxiety and damaged his
autonomy and reputation”. No particulars are given. Insofar as the Claimant
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1 cases
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Chirkunov v Persons Unknown
...of the MAC List about my suggestion in the previous paragraph. They have endorsed it as the practice now to be followed in the MAC[2024] EWHC 3177 (KB) THE HONOURABLE Mr Justice Nicklin Case No: KB-2024-002814 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE KING'S BENCH DIVISION MEDIA & COMMUNICATIONS LIS......
