On March 23, 2015, the Superior Court of Québec (per Justice Pinsonnault) granted a motion by Defendant Target Corp. to dismiss a proposed class action related to the 2013 data breach that affected millions of customers in the U.S. and allegedly many hundred thousand in Canada, on the grounds that the Courts of Québec lacked jurisdiction over the Defendant Target Corp. and, therefore, over the claim.
The Court's finding that Québec did not have jurisdiction over Target Corp. was based essentially of the following key elements:
- The Plaintiff admitted that the breach only occurred in the US and only affected persons having shopped there (which did include Canadians and Québécois);
- The Plaintiff had not named the Canadian subsidiary of Target Corp. as a defendant in the lawsuit for this very reason;
- In the meantime, the Canadian company had ceased all operations and was under CCAA protection;
- Therefore, under Québec's jurisdiction rules, the Defendant Target Corp. had committed no fault (tort) in Quebec and the litigation did not involve any activities by the Defendant in Quebec.
The full text of the decision can be found here: Zuckerman c. Target Corporation, 2015 QCCS 1285.
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