Johnson v. Bell Canada

Johnson v. Bell Canada

Personal inter-employee emails that are generated and maintained solely for personal/domestic purposes are not subject to PIPEDA under s.4(2)(b); Bell Canada met its PIPEDA obligations by conducting a reasonable, focused search for business-related personal information and did not breach the retention obligation in s.8(8) absent evidence that disclosable records existed and were intentionally withheld or recoverable at reasonable cost; accordingly the applicant's s.14(1) application is dismissed.

Citation
2008 FC 1086
Parties
Applicant: Donald Peter Johnson; Respondent: Bell Canada
Court
Federal Court
Jurisdiction
Canada
Judgment Date
26 September 2008
Procedural Posture
Application Under Subsection 14(1) of PIPEDA / Federal Court Judgment (application Dismissed With Costs)
Outcome
Application dismissed with costs
Legal Topics
PIPEDA, Employee Email, Scope of Act, Retention and Deletion, Access Requests, Search Adequacy
Source Language
English
Privacy Law Administrative Law Employment Law Information Law Access to Information PIPEDA Employee Email Scope of Act +3 more

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Parties

Donald Peter Johnson

Applicant

Bell Canada

Respondent

Procedural Posture

Application Under Subsection 14(1) of PIPEDA / Federal Court Judgment (application Dismissed With Costs)

Legal Issues

  1. 1 Are personal inter-employee emails subject to PIPEDA and disclosable to the employee?
  2. 2 Did Bell Canada conduct a search adequate to meet its obligations under PIPEDA?
  3. 3 Did Bell Canada fail to preserve or wrongfully destroy personal information in breach of PIPEDA s.8(8)?

Ratio Decidendi

Personal inter-employee emails that are generated and maintained solely for personal/domestic purposes are not subject to PIPEDA under s.4(2)(b); Bell Canada met its PIPEDA obligations by conducting a reasonable, focused search for business-related personal information and did not breach the retention obligation in s.8(8) absent evidence that disclosable records existed and were intentionally withheld or recoverable at reasonable cost; accordingly the applicant's s.14(1) application is dismissed.

Court Disposition

Application dismissed with costs

Orders

  • Application for judicial review dismissed with costs