Until recently, a person’s ability to sue for privacy concerns in Canada has been limited to traditional torts such as defamation, negligent/intentional infliction of mental distress, breach of confidence or harassment. This has not been satisfac...

The Alberta Court of Appeal has interpreted and applied Alberta’s legislation, which sets out the priorities of various insurers who may be involved in a leased/rented vehicle situation.  Tokio Marine & Nichido Insurance Company v. ...

The existence of a municipal bylaw requiring residents to clear sidewalks abutting their property together with the fact that the property owner voluntarily cleared the sidewalk do not create a duty of care towards users of the sidewalk. Der v Zhao, 20...

A U.S. District Court holds that the report of a forensic consultant, engaged on retainer in advance, in response to a data breach is NOT privileged. In re Capital One Consumer Data Sec. Breach Litig., 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 91736 (U.S. Dist. Ct., E Va....

Forensic analysis of voluminous data and electronic devices can constitute steps which "significantly advance" an action to resist an application for dismissal of the litigation on account of delay. LDS v SCA, 2020 ABQB 586 Fa...

The insured was held to be covered for “direct physical damage”, being loss/corruption of electronic data and software, and for a reduction of efficiency in the computer system caused by a ransomware attack. This was largely due to the word...

The Ontario Court of Appeal reiterated its disapproval of distributive cost orders but upheld a trial judge’s decision to disallow the successful plaintiff the costs of an expert where the expert’s evidence is of marginal value to the case....

The Ontario Court of Appeal ducked the issue of whether or not an insurer’s employee can be sued in his/her personal capacity for bad faith.Burns v. RBC Life Insurance Company, 2020 ONCA 347; varying 2019 ONSC 6977 Facts and Issues The Plaint...

The insurer was obligated to defend its insured under a homeowner policy where its insured was alleged to have engaged in a road rage assault against another driver after the insured stopped and exited from his own vehicle – it was not sufficient...

An Ontario Court ordered an insurer to defend a data breach claim in the face of data exclusion clauses where it was unclear whether or not all of the claims against the insured fell within the clauses.  Laridae v. Co-operators, 2020 ONSC 219...

The ransom paid in response to a ransomware attack was held not to be covered under the “Computer Coverage” of an insurance policy because the attack and the ransom demand did not amount to “fraud”, as opposed to a mere theft (c...

An employer who is innocent of negligence or other misconduct can be vicariously liable for the tort of intrusion upon seclusion based on a data breach committed by one of its employees.  Grossman v. Nissan Canada, 2019 ONSC 6180, per Be...

Courts are granting opposed orders for video hearings, including discoveries by video conference as necessary in the modern age, especially in light of restricted court operations due to the COVID-19 pandemic.   Arconti v. Smith, 2020 ONSC 27...

An employer may be vicariously liable for a data breach caused by the tort of an employee depending on the circumstances.WM Morrison Supermarkets plc v. Various Claimants, 2020 UKSC 12, per Lord Reed rev’g 2017 EWHC 3113 (Q.B.) and 2018 EWCA Civ ...

For an auto insurer to have any place in the priority list of insurers in a rental/leased car situation, its policy must provide coverage to a relevant insured. Ontario Corporation Number 1009329 (Enterprise Rent-A-Car) v Intact Insurance Company...

For the purposes of determining the priority of insurers in the overlapping coverage situation with rental vehicles, the Court must first determine who the “lessee” is. This may not always be determined by the rental agreement alone, especi...

A claimant who is the victim of a data breach and who has suffered only mental distress or potential future loss such as actual fraud or identity theft lacks standing to sue for such losses.Li c. Equifax Inc., 2019 QCCS 4340, per Bison, J.C.S. Fa...

An insured’s statement to his fire insurance adjuster as required by the policy’s statutory conditions is inadmissible in criminal proceedings against him because it is a statutorily compelled statement.R. v Badrudin, 2019 NLSC 187, per Tho...

The Court held that a fraudster’s unauthorized use of the insured’s online banking system to make payments against her own credit card debts did not qualify as forgery or alteration under the terms of the policy in question.Malcolm Silver &...

The Ontario Superior Court of Justice has recognized the privacy tort of placing the plaintiff in a false light, awarding both compensatory and punitive damages for same. Yenovkian v. Gulian, 2019 ONSC 7279, per Kristjanson, J. Facts + Issues ...

In 2010 the Government of Canada “launched a national effort to defend against [cyber security] threats with Canada’s first Cyber Security Strategy”: National Cyber Security Strategy (the National Strategy). This outlines three t...