Date: 2014-05-30 Docket: S122316. Griffin J. | Link

B.C. resident sought certification of a class proceeding against Facebook for the use of her name and likeness, without her knowledge or consent, in the company’s “Sponsored Stories”. Plaintiff claimed a breach of s. 3(2) of B.C.’s Privacy Act. In determining the identifiable class, a court considers whether the plaintiff has shown an identifiable class of “two or more persons”. Facebook relied on its records to show that the second proposed person did not appear in a Sponsored Story during the relevant time. The Court held that the Class Proceedings Act discourages discovery before the certification hearing takes place. In the present case, the source of information regarding who is in the class was predominantly in the hands of the defendant, but would be producible on discovery. The burden on the plaintiff should not be higher than that described in the Act; through the process of discovery and notice, membership in the class would be objectively determinable. Action certified.