Toronto Privacy Lawyer Gil Zvulony recently spoke to Canadian Lawyer Magazine regarding the recent decision in McIntosh v. Legal Aid Ontario. In that case the court awarded the plaintiff $7500 in damages for the tort of intrusion upon seclusion.
Gil Zvulony believes that the result is typical in that relatively minor privacy breaches will not result in a windfall damages award. Most minor privacy breaches will fall in the realm of small claims court jurisdiction. At the time of writing, all monetary claims under $25,000 must be brought in the Small Claims Court. There can be negative consequences if a plaintiff recovers an amount within the monetary jurisdiction of the Small Claims Court. In such a case, the court may order that the plaintiff shall not recover any costs. Such an outcome can result in a plaintiff paying more in legal fees than in what is actually recovered by way of judgment. The lesson here is to have a hard look at the amount of damages in privacy breaches before commencing an action.
The article in Canadian Lawyer Magazine can be found here: Legal aid employee to pay $7,500 for intrusion upon seclusion