An Ontario court has dismissed a motion brought by plaintiffs for Canada Bread to have Maple Leaf Foods included in a class-action lawsuit related to a price-fixing episode dating back almost a decade.

Plaintiffs for Canada Bread, now owned by Mexico-based bakery giant Grupo Bimbo, had sought to overturn a December 2021 ruling by the Ontario Superior Court that excluded Maple Leaf Foods from the price-fixing lawsuit.

However, Judge Edward Morgan ruled on Friday (25 October) that “the plaintiffs’ motion to amend or reconsider certification of the action as against MLF [Maple Leaf Foods] is dismissed”.

The court proceedings document added: “MLF’s motion to exclude from the record the Canada Bread email correspondence, the ASF [agreed statement of facts], the second ITO [information to obtain], the Canada Bread reports, and other records sought to be admitted into evidence by the plaintiff is granted; all such materials are inadmissible.”

In 2015, the Competition Bureau of Canada launched an investigation into the price-fixing claims, a case that included Canada Bread, local food group Weston Foods and supermarket Loblaw, both subsidiaries of George Weston.

Also implicated were Maple Leaf Foods, as the previous owner of Canada Bread before its takeover by Grupo Bimbo in 2014, and the retail chains Metro, Sobeys, Wal-Mart Canada and Giant Tiger Stores.

Friday’s court document described the price fixing as a “horizontal one operating on two levels: bread producers fixing prices as between themselves and retailers fixing prices as between themselves”.

However, in December 2017, Weston Foods and Loblaw admitted their participation in what they described as an “industry-wide price-fixing arrangement”, and in exchange for their full cooperation with the Bureau’s investigation received immunity from prosecution.

Nevertheless, the Bureau updated Just Food in September with the status of proceedings presented by a spokesperson.

“The Bureau continues to investigate alleged price-fixing by other companies, including Metro Inc., Sobeys Inc., Wal-Mart Canada Corporation, Giant Tiger Stores Limited, and Maple Leaf Foods Inc. “There is no conclusion of wrongdoing at this time and no charges have been laid against those parties.”

In a chronology of past events related to the price-fixing case, Friday’s court documented stated the plaintiffs for Canada Bread brought the latest motion against Maple Leaf in August last year.

It added that a week after Maple Leaf filed “materials” in February this year in response to that motion, the plaintiffs for Canada Bread “served a fifth ‘fresh
as-amended statement of claim’”.

The court document on Friday said the plaintiffs were “out of sync with an established litigation timeline in presenting evidence and in seeking to revise their motion and pleading”.

It added: “The lateness of these moves might in itself disqualify the newly sought relief from consideration; along with that, MLF submits that the substance of what the plaintiffs have produced is also problematic.

“A review of the Canada Bread emails and the latest proposed pleading reveals that none of the new evidence is particularly new and that the fifth fresh as-amended statement of claim is not particularly fresh.”

Approached for comment, Canada Bread emphasised the latest proceedings in the Ontario court to have Maple Lead added to the class-action lawsuit were brought by the plaintiffs, and “not” Canada Bread, referring Just Food to the plaintiffs’ legal counsel.

This publication also asked Canada Bread for an update on damages proceedings but the company said it had nothing to add at this stage.

In September, Canada Bread said it was seeking damages against Maple Leaf in relation to the C$50m ($35.9m) fine it received last year after pleading guilty to four counts of price fixing in the same case.

Meanwhile, Suzanne Hathaway, the senior vice president, general counsel, communications and corporate secretary at Maple Leaf, provided a statement in response to Just Food's request for comment.

“The decision confirms a ruling more than three years ago, which concluded there was no cause of action against Maple Leaf Foods.

“This most recent decision not only reconfirms that there is no cause of action against us, but it goes on to find that the email communications that the plaintiffs and others have sought to rely upon in their allegations against us are nothing more than routine communication between a supplier and a customer, just as we have said all along.”

Hathaway added: “We acted responsibly and lawfully and will continue to defend our integrity against all allegations to the contrary.”