Court widens lawsuit over lost loan data

OTTAWA— The Federal Court of Appeal has ordered the expansion of a class-action lawsuit brought by thousands of students whose personal loan data was lost by the federal government.

And the lawyer representing the students says that decision could have far-reaching implications for other similar cases.

The appeal court this week overturned a prior decision limiting the avenues the students had to pursue their case, on the grounds that they had failed to prove they actually suffered certain kinds of damage when the data was lost.

Aportable hard drive with information on 583,000 Canada Student Loans Program borrowers from 2000 to 2006 went missing in 2013 and has still not been found.

But the appeal court overturned the decision, saying that in negligence and breach of confidence matters, the specific details of damages don’t need to be proven before a class action can go ahead.

The students are also suing for breach of contract and warranty, and the tort of intrusion upon seclusion — basically, invasion of privacy.

The lost files include student names, social insurance numbers, dates of birth, contact information and loan balances.