Disclosing A Litigant's Private Information During Judicial Proceedings Is Not A Privacy Breach

It has long been settled that in civil actions, the public interest in getting at the truth will, absent special circumstances, trump the litigants' right to privacy. In fact, the introduction of legal proceedings allows the parties, at the discovery stage, to probe into each other's files and force the disclosure of otherwise confidential information, including private information, for the purpose of verifying the allegations of the parties. Relevant evidence thusly compelled is a permissible invasion of privacy based on the condition that it is solely used in the ongoing matter, for instance, as evidence at trial.

But what about a litigant's private information acquired by an opponent outside pre-trial discovery? Would the disclosure of this information by the opponent in support of their pleadings amount to an actionable breach of privacy against themselves or their counsel? Not under the Privacy Act of British Columbia, according to the BC Court of Appeal in Duncan