The tort of intrusion upon seclusion, as set out by the Ontario Court of Appeal in Jones v Tsige, requires the defendant’s conduct to be intentional, or, at a minimum, reckless. The question is: at what point does the failure of an organization’s security safeguards amount to recklessness? This was the question addressed by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in the recent case, Wilson-Flewelling v Queensway Carleton Hospital, 2019 CanLII 65155 (ON SCSM) (“Queensway Carleton Hospital”).
The facts
The court heard that the Plaintiff, Ms. Wilson-Flewelling, had attended the defendant hospital (“Hospital”) to book a surgical procedure, that the Hospital’s medical office administrator had left a completed surgical booking package in the Hospital’s dedicated, locked drop box, and that the Plaintiff had unexpectedly received the package in the mail a week later.
