Victims of a listeriosis outbreak in 2008 are closer to receiving their share of a $25 million settlement with Maple Leaf Foods.
The 2008 incident resulted in 23 deaths and three class-action lawsuits.
Courts in Ontario, Quebec and Saskatchewan are now approving the final agreements that will see payments doled out.
Victims are to be paid payments of between $750 and $125,000 after successfully filing claims in 2009.
Laura Bruneau of Bruneau Group Inc., the court-appointed administrator of the settlement fund, said the most severe claims — involving a fatality — took up to a year to be approved.
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The final step involved provincial health authorities, who are among the undisclosed number of claimants.
Bruneau said an agreement with those agencies was reached in November.
Bruneau Group alerted claimants online Dec. 22 that an Ontario court had approved the agreement with provincial health authorities and that a court date was set for January in Quebec.
A court date has yet to be set for Saskatchewan.
“As soon as those three matching court orders are available, we will be printing the cheques the very next morning,” said Bruneau. “We’re ready.”
Maple Leaf Foods president Michael McCain issued a statement in mid-December expressing frustration with the lengthy process.
“We are dismayed and frustrated at how long this process has taken, given we paid $25 million to settle these claims almost three years ago,” he said.
“While Maple Leaf had no control over the process, we did everything we could to help get money to victims, including me personally contacting premiers to urge their provincial health authorities to reach a settlement,” he added.
The outbreak was linked to the meat processor’s Bartor Road facility in Toronto, where the bacteria was located inside the mechanical operation of two slicing machines.
