court case documents access – Legal Drift Canada

Can you protect the privacy of your court documents from public?

Meghna 0 Comments canadian privacy laws, court case documents access, court order privacy, estate trustee right to privacy, privacy and canada, private sensitive information, right to dignity and privacy, right to privacy and court openness, right to privacy in canada, sealing orders right to privacy, sherman case, Sherman Estate v. Donovan

On December 15, 2017, philanthropist billionaire couple Bernard and Honey Sherman were found dead in their Toronto home. To date, the identities of their alleged perpetrators are unknown and deaths are being investigated as homicides. The estate trustees obtained sealing orders for the probate files. A sealing order prohibits access to information to anyone except the parties identified in the order. The sealing orders can be obtained by the court or mandated by the criminal code.

However, these orders were challenged by the renowned newspaper. Although the application judge sealed the probate files, the Court of Appeal unanimously allowed the appeal and revoked the sealing orders. The case was finally decided by the Supreme Court of Canada. Interestingly, the case delves around significant issues of court openness, privacy rights, and the right to dignity.

In Sherman Estate v. Donovan, 2021 SCC 25 (CanLII), the SCC evaluated the facts of …