The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that a Vancouver woman who wants to sue Facebook over what she claims was a breach of her privacy can do so in British Columbia, despite a clause in the company’s terms of use that requires the dispute to be resolved in California.
“Obviously, I’m thrilled and delighted with the decision,” Deborah Douez told CTV News Channel on Friday. “It’s been five years getting to this point, so very, very pleased with the decision.”
Douez is accusing the social media giant of using her name and profile picture without her consent in “sponsored stories” from companies she had “liked” on the network.
The class-action lawsuit, which she launched in 2012 on behalf of 1.8 million Facebook users, is seeking damages based on the argument that the use of her personal information in the now-defunct advertising format violated B.C.’s Privacy Act.
“I brought (the lawsuit) because I felt like I had to stand up to something that I thought was wrong,” she said. “I innocently ‘liked’ a page. That page was turned into an advertisement without my knowledge and our privacy law says that you just can’t do that unless you have someone’s written consent.”
In its defense, Facebook argued that its terms of use include a forum selection and choice-of-law clause that requires such legal disputes to go to court in California, where the company is headquartered.
A forum selection clause is a contractual agreement about the court and location where legal despites will be decided.
The B.C. Supreme Court had initially approved Douez’s suit. The provincial court of appeal, however, reversed the ruling, saying that the dispute should be resolved in California.
But the Supreme Court ruled that Facebook’s terms of use are “unenforceable” in Canada, allowing Douez to pursue the lawsuit in B.C. The 4-3 decision was issued on Friday.
"Ms. Douez has established strong reasons not to enforce the clause at issue here," the ruling said. "The grossly uneven bargaining power between the parties and the importance of adjudicating quasi-constitutional privacy rights in the province are reasons of public policy that are compelling, and when considered together, are decisive in this case."
A victory for social media users
Douez’s lawyer, Christopher Rhone, said the ruling is an important victory for Canadian social media users.
“It’s a vindication for all British Columbians and Canadians, actually, that their consumer rights will be protected in British Columbia and that these national and international corporations can’t force people to go abroad to distant locations to enforce their rights,” Rhone told CTV News Channel.
“An international and national corporation can’t expect to come here and infringe those rights.”
The dispute is now set to return to B.C.
With files from CTV News Channel and The Canadian Press
