Superior court found wife violated husband's privacy after using data as evidence in claim
The Ontario Superior Court of Justice has ordered the wife to pay for a third-party forensic audit of the computers she used to copy the husband’s private files and correspondence without his consent.
In Moran v. Moran ONSC 6832, Roderick Moran discovered that his wife, Stavroula Moran, had surreptitiously copied his private computer files and correspondence with third parties without his consent or knowledge. The parties were married for 25 years, and they separated in 2020.
The Ontario Superior Court of Justice found that the wife copied and accessed the husband’s private and confidential information, downloaded it off his computer, read the documents and shared it with her legal team. She proceeded to introduce these documents as exhibits to her affidavits in support of her spousal support claim. Her counsel put some of these documents to the husband during his questioning.
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The court further noted that the wife denied copying any solicitor and client communication from the husband’s computer. However, the court pointed out that the wife acknowledged that she had privileged documents and deleted them. The court emphasized that a privilege violation poses a significant threat to the administration of justice. The court must act “swiftly and decisively” to avert the risk.
The extent and nature of the husband’s documents accessed by the wife is unknown. The husband brought a motion before the court, seeking to compel the wife to deliver up all computers she used to download his information so a third-party forensic investigator could fully audit the electronic documents she took from the husband. The goal is to inventory and identify these electronic records so the husband can learn what the wife has accessed. The husband also sought an order restraining the wife from distributing any of the surreptitiously obtained information from his computer.
The court explained that the husband had a reasonable expectation that his private email and computer files, kept in the Toronto matrimonial home, would be confidential and not subject to prying eyes. While the Toronto matrimonial home is in the wife’s name, she voluntarily left the house, and the husband had been exclusively residing in that home at the time of the incident.
The court ultimately ordered the wife to pay the upfront costs of the forensic audit, subject to reapportionment at trial. Furthermore, the court also ordered the wife to refrain from distributing any of his documents to any third parties, considering that the wife has admitted that she provided copies of the husband’s electronic records to her lawyers and accountant.
The court also found it reasonable that the wife be ordered to produce a list of all contacts, including their names and contact information, to identify the individuals to whom she sent the husband’s electronic records.