Introducing the Dentons quarterly privacy litigation digest – your comprehensive review of privacy litigation developments impacting businesses across Canada. In each quarterly issue, our Privacy Litigation Team provides a summary of key privacy litigation topics spanning all provinces. Stay informed about the latest developments and enhance your ability to navigate the rapidly changing legal landscape in this dynamic field.

Dentons quarterly privacy litigation digest – Issue 1 / 2025

In our first digest of 2025, we review a development in Home Depot’s class action proceedings in relation to sharing customers’ personal information with Meta, along with other key privacy decisions. Kelly Osaka, Victoria Merritt and Kathryn Gullason highlight significant decisions from this quarter that are reshaping the privacy litigation landscape. Read more.

Dentons quarterly privacy litigation digest – Issue 3 / 2024

In the third edition of Dentons’ Quarterly Privacy Litigation Digest, we explore key developments shaping privacy law in Canada. The Federal Court of Appeal upheld the requirement for users to provide meaningful consent before sharing their personal information with third parties. Meanwhile, the Ontario Court of Appeal, in a trilogy of class action decisions, declined to extend the common law tort of intrusion upon seclusion to data custodians. In contrast, the British Columbia Court of Appeal took a different approach, finding in a recent class action certification appeal that it is at least arguable that a data custodian’s failure to adequately protect private information could amount to a willful violation of privacy under the provincial Privacy Act. Lastly, we review ongoing discourse in BC on whether common law privacy torts can coexist with the statutory torts established by provincial Privacy Acts. Kelly Osaka and Kathryn Gullason highlight significant decisions shaping this quarter's developments. Read more.

Dentons quarterly privacy litigation digest – Issue 2 / 2024

In the second edition of Dentons’ quarterly privacy litigation digest, we review recent pivotal privacy decisions. Highlights include a BC court certifying a class action against a health-tracking app for allegedly disclosing user information to third-party analytics companies and another BC decision affirming that privacy laws apply to federal political parties. In Québec, courts authorized privacy-related class actions against a major search engine and a leading home improvement retailer. Additionally, we explore an emerging trend in privacy litigation: the use of Norwich orders to identify anonymous online wrongdoers and cyber-criminal. Kelly Osaka and Sasha Coutu review some notable key decisions from this quarter. Read more.

Dentons quarterly privacy litigation digest – Issue 1 / 2024

The proliferation of privacy-related class actions in 2023 continued the trend of plaintiffs seeking recourse for data breaches affecting the personal information of customers, employees and others held by organizations. While some privacy class proceedings were certified, courts have strictly scrutinized the viability of data breach-based claims. Towards the end of 2023, class counsel were increasingly struggling to convince the courts to certify. Another emerging privacy litigation trend in 2024 is the extent to which privacy rights may be exerted over documents produced in the course of litigation. Organizations increasingly sought to avoid production of documents that contained personal information based on concerns over confidentiality. To date, courts have generally ruled on the side of disclosure and open courts. Kelly Osaka and Luca Lucarini discuss some recent key decisions that round up this quarter. Read more.

Additional resources

• Litigation and Dispute Resolution 2024 Outlook
• Privacy Litigation Undone – An in-depth look at litigation risks in privacy
• Proposed privacy class action fails (again) to meet test for intrusion upon seclusion
• BC court finds employer’s “structural environment” sufficient to ground vicarious liability claim for privacy violations