Kerry Eaton

The defendants in a 15-year-old class action regarding the federal government's response to the mad cow disease crisis brought a motion to adjourn the peremptory trial date of January 18, 2021, to September 2021.

They cited difficulties preparing due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the late delivery of supplementary expert reports by the plaintiff.

The court dismissed the motion for a lengthy adjournment, finding that the parties were well-resourced to conduct a virtual trial and that the late expert reports were responsive to the defendants' own late productions.

The trial commencement was postponed by two weeks to February 1, 2021, to allow for the completion of remaining pre-trial steps.

The moving party, the Attorney General of Canada, sought leave to appeal an order certifying a class action brought on behalf of Canadian cattle farmers for economic losses arising from the discovery of BSE in 2003.

The moving party argued the motions judge erred in finding an identifiable class, certifying negligence as a common issue, and concluding a class proceeding was the preferable procedure.

The Divisional Court dismissed the motion for leave to appeal, finding no conflicting decisions on class-wide proof of loss and no reason to doubt the correctness of the motions judge's application of the certification criteria under the Class Proceedings Act.