Class action against Maple Leaf

A Regina lawyer launched a class action suit this week against Maple Leaf Foods in association with the listeria outbreak which has killed 15 people so far. Tony Merchant has launched class actions against a number of other, well- known, companies in the past- Hershey’s, Sears, HSBC. You can read about the  lawsuits on canada.com and CTV websites.

The way that class actions works is that a group of people apply to the court to be certified as a class. One of the criteria of being certified is that everyone in the class must share a common interest. In the Maple Leaf case, for example, the common interest is being injured by a contaminated food product. Once the class has been certified, class action proceedings represent a cost-effective way to pursue litigation against a company or organisation. The alternative is where each person would have to individually pursue their own independent court actions on their own.