The plaintiff left a completed surgical booking package in a drop box at the defendant hospital. The package was subsequently returned to her by mail. The hospital did not take responsibility for the misplaced booking records and the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario was unable to make a determination as to who was responsible for the privacy breach. The plaintiff claimed against the hospital for intrusion upon seclusion, breach of confidence, public disclosure of embarrassing facts, and punitive damages. The court found on a balance of probabilities that the hospital received the records and that they were misplaced. The court held that the claim for intrusion upon seclusion was not made out as a single act of inadvertence was not sufficient to prove recklessness and there was no deliberate or significant invasion of personal privacy. The court held that the claim for breach of confidence was not made out as there was insufficient evidence to prove that the hospital made unauthorized use of her booking record or misused it to her detriment. The court held that public disclosure of embarrassing facts was not established as there was no evidence that the hospital published the booking record or otherwise deliberately made it public. The claim was dismissed.
