David Fraser writes:
The Federal Court has recently released its second decision in which damages have been awarded for a breach under PIPEDA. Once again, the degree of damages are very low considering the costs associated with seeking redress before the Federal Court, but this very likely turns on the unique facts of the case.
In Landry v. Royal Bank of Canada, 2011 FC 687 (CanLII), the applicant was embroiled in what appears to be a bitter divorce and was hiding certain bank accounts from her spouse. Her bank was served with a subpoena to produce records. It appears that the bank did not follow its prescribed procedures (which would have avoided the entire mess) and ultimately faxed the applicant’s bank records to counsel for her spouse. The applicant complained to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, who found her complaint to be “well-founded and resolved”.
Read more on Canadian Privacy Law Blog.