breach of confidence

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{{About|breach of confidence in United States law|breach of confidence in the law of England and Wales|Breach of confidence in English law}}

{{Tort law}}

The tort of breach of confidence is, in United States law, a common-law tort that protects private information conveyed in confidence.{{Cite web|url=https://www.inbrief.co.uk/contract-law/breach-of-confidence/|title=Breach of confidence}} A claim for breach of confidence typically requires the information to be of a confidential nature, which was communicated in confidence and was disclosed to the detriment of the claimant.

Establishing a breach of confidentiality depends on proving the existence and breach of a duty of confidentiality. Courts in the United States look at the nature of the relationship between the parties. Most commonly, breach of confidentiality applies to the patient-physician relationship,{{Cite book|last1=Networks|first1=Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on Regional Health Data|url=https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK236546/|title=Confidentiality and Privacy of Personal Data|last2=Donaldson|first2=Molla S.|last3=Lohr|first3=Kathleen N.|date=1994|publisher=National Academies Press (US)|language=en}} but it can also apply to relationships involving banks, hospitals, insurance companies, and many others.{{Cite journal|last1=Solove|first1=Daniel J.|last2=Richards|first2=Neil M.|date=2007|title=Privacy's Other Path: Recovering the Law of Confidentiality|url=https://scholarship.law.gwu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2078&context=faculty_publications|journal=GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works|volume=96|pages=123–182}}

There is no tort of breach of confidence in other common-law jurisdictions such as the United Kingdom or Australia; however, there is an equitable doctrine of breach of confidence.{{cn|date=June 2024}}