> A law and regulation is written one way and interpreted a different way by the courts. In the USA it's all about case law.
This is about the EU, not the US.
As someone who used to practice law in the EU before moving into software development, I can tell you that your hypothetical will never lead to a suit nor judgment in the EU, nor is your personal experience concerning a subpoena a thing that happens in the EU, if only because the concept of discovery doesn’t exist in civil law systems.
To put it differently and respectfully, you’re applying your knowledge of and experience with the US legal system to a completely different legal system that rarely produces outcomes similar to those in the US system.
Even the order of magnitude of judgments is leagues apart.
€1m judgments lead to coverage in legal outlets there if not regular mainstream media. In contrast, in the US, that money is thrown across the table to make an unviable but annoying class action disappear just because it’s cheaper than litigating it.
I’m bringing that up because, even in the unlikely instance of your hypothetical leading to a case that makes it to a hearing in the EU, the judgment against you will be close to, if not outright be, the nominal fee you charged the user (+ court fees) due to how the chain of causation works in the EU. The connection with losing your job is just too remote for any judge to consider liability.
Even if this would be about a car breaking down on the way to work, which already has strict liability under the current PLD, loss of job is just not going to be part of the equation, ever.