For those embittered Ex’s who are tempted to wreak revenge on their former partners after a break-up, take note: the Ontario Courts have just expanded the realm of tort law to cover certain breaches and invasions of privacy. In one very recent case, it cost a disgruntled ex-boyfriend $100,000 in general, aggravated and punitive damages.
In Jane Doe 464533 v. N.D., a woman’s ex-boyfriend had posted an intimate video of her online at a pornography website after their break-up, without her knowledge or consent. He also showed it to members of their mutual social circle. The court described the back-story this way:
The factual background may be summarized fairly briefly. The parties went to high school together in a small Ontario city, where they started dating while they were both in Grade 12. Although they broke off that formal relationship, they continued to see each other romantically throughout the summer and the fall of 2011. By the fall of 2011, the plaintiff and the defendant were both 18 years old.
In September 2011, the plaintiff was living in another city while attending university. Despite the fact that they had broken up in July 2011 and were no longer “boyfriend and girlfriend”, she and the defendant communicated regularly by Internet, texting, and telephone and continued to see each other when she returned to visit her parents’ home.
In August 2011, the defendant began asking the plaintiff to make a sexually explicit video of herself to send to him. For some time, she refused to do so, but the defendant kept asking her repeatedly. He sent her several intimate pictures and videos of himself, and told her that she owed him a video of herself in return. She did not want to do so, but she ultimately recorded an intimate video of herself in November 2011. Before she sent it to the defendant she texted him, telling him she was still unsure. He convinced her to relent, and reassured her that no one else would see the video. Despite her misgivings, due to pressure from the defendant, she “caved in” and sent the video to him.
In early December 2011, the plaintiff learned that the defendant had posted the video she sent him on an Internet pornography website under the “user submissions” section of the website. As posted by the defendant, the video was titled “college girl pleasures herself for ex boyfriends (sic) delight.” She further learned that the defendant had been showing it to some of the young men with whom they had attended high school. She later learned that the video had been posted online on the same day she had sent it to him, and that its existence had become known among some of her friends.
After finding out about the video, the woman was “devastated, humiliated, and distraught”; she became severely depressed. She experienced panic attacks and had to see a school counsellor for over 1.5 years to deal with the emotional fallout. The court also noted the effects on the woman were long-lasting:
Even today, more than four years after the incident, she is emotionally fragile and worried about the possibility that the video may someday resurface and have an adverse impact on her employment, her career, or her future relationships. She continues to be distraught about the incident and afraid that these feelings will haunt her for a long time to come.
The court also noted that although the video was actually on-line for only about three weeks, there was no way of knowing how many off-line copies had been made and were still in existence.
The woman successfully sued the ex-boyfriend for breach of confidence, intentional infliction of mental distress, and invasion of privacy (and obtained default judgment against him since he had not filed a defence). Her damages were set at $100,000, including $25,000 in punitive damages to reflect the ex-boyfriend’s high-handed, reckless and arrogant disregard of the woman’s rights, as well as the fact that he had not apologized or shown remorse.
For the full text of the decision, see:
Jane Doe 464533 v. N.D., [2016] O.J. No. 382, 2016 ONSC 541
