In a trio of decisions, the Ontario Court of Appeal has confirmed that the tort of intrusion upon seclusion is not available as a cause of action in class action proceedings involving so-called “Database Defendants” – i.e., defendants who, for commercial purposes, collect and store the private information of others and whose alleged failure to take adequate steps to store that information allowed third-party hackers to access or use that information. This is an important development in the privacy litigation landscape, particularly as it concerns class actions.
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