Alberta Judge Won't Strike Out Meat Producer's Third-Party Claim Against CFIA

In this recent summary judgment ruling, Alberta's Court of Queen's Bench in Harrison v. XL Foods Inc. permitted meat processor XL Foods Inc. (the Company) to third-party the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA ) with respect to a class action negligence claim over an E. coli outbreak. Applying the test for summary dismissal, Associate Chief Justice John Rooke decided that it is not "plain and obvious" that CFIA owes no private law duty to members of the plaintiff class (primarily consumers and distributors of the contaminated meat). Thus the CFIA's application to strike the third-party claim was dismissed.

It is important to remember that no legal principles were established by the ruling: whether such a private law duty actually does exist remains an open question. However, even the possibility that it might be recognized should be of considerable interest to the food industry and other heavily regulated industries.