Massive cattle lawsuit targets feds

By Shawn Logan
The Eagle
A Cochrane man is one of the lawyers representing cattle producers across Canada in a $7 billion class action suit against the federal government.
Noble Shanks, a lawyer at the Calgary law firm Docken and Company, said the suit is targeting the government for negligence by not preventing the spread of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, also called mad cow disease) in Canada.
He said following an outbreak of mad cow disease in Great Britain in the 1980s, the government imported 191 English cattle and allowed 80 to be rendered into feed that would be eaten by Canadian cattle.
It wasn’t until 1997, Canada banned ruminants in cattle feed, a practice suspected of spreading the disease.
“The government had to know of this problem of using ruminant animal parts in the feed,” Shanks said. “They knew of this issue because of what was going on in Britain. Somebody wasn’t doing their job and (the cattle) weren’t being properly maintained.”
Shanks said the suit is being filed by firms in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Québec and Ontario on behalf of the Canadian cattle producing industry.
Because it’s a class action suit, Shanks said any rancher can make a claim to share in any damages awarded.
“Technically, everybody is (a plaintiff) unless they opt out,” he said.
The Canadian cattle industry has been unable to export live beef across the United States border, its biggest trading partner, since a case of BSE was discovered in an Alberta cow in May 2003. A number of other markets followed suit.
The $7 billion claimed in the suit is the industry’s estimated losses from the closure. A further $100 million is being sought in punitive damages.
Shanks said ranchers have been slow to rally to the cause so far but he expects their involvement will pick up.
“I think (the reaction) has been a bit guarded but I do think the majority of producers believe there is some responsibility on the federal government,” Shanks said, adding the government may have tacitly acknowledged some responsibility by rolling out a number of compensation programs.