Class-action lawsuit filed in Canada against Ashley Madison

A national class-action lawsuit has been launched for Canadian subscribers to Ashley Madison who had personal information released to the public.

The Ontario law firms Charney Lawyers and Sutts, Strosberg LLP will file the lawsuit against the corporations that run AshleyMadison.com – Avid Dating Life Inc. and Avid Life Media Inc.

Elliot Shore, A disabled widower from Ottawa, is the plaintiff. After 30 years of marriage, Shore joined the site as an attempt to find companionship after losing his wife to breast cancer but did not meet anyone in person from the site.

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READ MORE: Toronto has the highest number of users registered for Ashley Madison in Canada

Shore was one of thousands of Canadians whose information was leaked following a data breach at AshelyMadison.com. Users’ personal names, emails, home addresses and message history were downloaded by hackers in July and released on Tuesday.

Many users paid an additional fee to remove their user data from the website, but discovered that the information was left intact and exposed following the leak.

The class action is not being brought against the hackers, calling themselves Impact Team, who have claimed responsibility for the leak.

The class-action press release encourages former and current users of AshleyMadison.com who reside in Canada to contact either law firm in strict confidence and anonymity. The Ashley Madison Class Action website can also be found here.