Thursday, October 06, 2011

Questions from the bench suggest Ontario will get invasion of privacy tort

The appeal in Jones v Tsige was heard by the Ontario Court of Appeal last week. Though the court reserved judgement, I have heard from one person in attendance (and now the Financial Post) that questions from the bench suggest a likelihood that there will be a tort of invasion of privacy before long:

Ontario to get invasion of privacy tort? | Legal Post | Financial Post

Julius Melnitzer Oct 5, 2011 – 3:20 PM ET | Last Updated: Oct 5, 2011 3:24 PM ET

Proponents of an invasion of privacy tort for Ontario were heartened by the Court of Appeal’s response at the hearing of the appeal in Jones v. Tsige on September 30, 2011, in which the existence or creation of such a tort was directly in issue. The Ontario Superior Court of Justice ruled at first instance that there was no such tort in the province.

The court reserved, but observers say the questions and comments during the hearing suggested the court seemed strongly inclined to create such a tort and couple it with meaningful damages as a deterrent force.

Chris Du Vernet and Carlin McGoogan of Du Vernet Stewart were counsel for the plaintiff Sandra Jones. Alex Cameron of Fasken Martineau Dumoulin acted for the defendant Winnie Tsige.

1 comment:

Gordon Scott Campbell said...

Great blog. As Canada's Director of E-Business Development until I recently set up my own practice (and blog), I always found (and still find) your posts most informative. You especially deserve credit for your personal and engaging writing style, and frequent posting.