ABSTRACT
Eloïse Gratton and Lauren Phizicky present a thorough analysis of the emergence of privacy class actions in Canada. They explore trends in privacy class action litigation by classifying the types of incidents that give rise to privacy class actions, jurisdictions within Canada, and industries implicated. This will be the first academic work to date to provide an empirical analysis of trends in privacy class action litigation in Canada. Further, the chapter undertakes a theoretical analysis of the claims that give rise to privacy class actions. Privacy class actions are relatively new, and although the Ontario Court of Appeal recently created the tort of “intrusion upon seclusion” in Jones, that decision may not apply throughout Canada. Furthermore, privacy torts are not a good fit for the types of claims that we are seeing, which stem primarily from mismanagement of personal information rather than activities such as eavesdropping or spying. This chapter assesses the wrongdoings and types of harm at stake through the lens of what is expected of organizations under Canada’s data protection laws.
