Possible class-action plaintiff has a beef with Loblaw measurements

A Manitoba woman who claims she was overcharged for ground beef at a Real Canadian Superstore has filed a proposed class action lawsuit against Loblaw, alleging it consistently charges consumers for the weight of packages in which meat and seafood are sold.

Iris Griffin, who lives on Hecla Island, filed the claim in the Manitoba Court of King’s Bench last week, naming Loblaw Companies Ltd., Loblaws Inc. and subsidiaries T&T Supermarket and Provigo Distribution as defendants.

“The defendants have consistently overcharged consumers across Canada for meat and seafood products weighed and packaged in their stores. Rather than weighing only the edible portion, they have included the packaging weight in the prices charged to customers,” the court filing claims.

“This practice is deceptive and misleading and violates Canadian food regulations, which require accurate net-quantity labelling.”

The claim says consumers are being overcharged just as they are struggling to buy groceries.

The issue of packaging being included in the listed weight of meat and seafood at Loblaw stores has been in recent headlines.

The company promised to refresh training and issued an apology earlier this year after the practice occurred in at least 80 stores, as per a CBC News investigation, in which Griffin was quoted.

The lawsuit claims the grocer did not offer restitution to customers who were overcharged.

The court filing alleges the pricing practice has continued despite complaints from customers, reports to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, investigations and media coverage. The lawsuit claims the overcharging has occurred since at least 2023.

“Loblaw’s conduct violated the trust of consumers to inflate their profits,” the court filing alleges. “Loblaw’s actions are part of a pattern of wilful disregard for their customers and the law.”

Griffin regularly travels from Hecla Island to Winnipeg to buy groceries to save money, the court filing says.

In November 2023, she went to a Real Canadian Superstore in Winnipeg, where she purchased a large package of ground beef. The package listed the price as the cost per unit of beef multiplied by the net weight.

When Griffin weighed the meat into portions to freeze it, she found the weight was incorrect, the court filing claims.

“The store had included the weight of packaging when weighing the beef, resulting in an overcharge of approximately eight per cent,” the lawsuit alleges.

The court papers say Griffin spoke to the manager of the Superstore, then the meat department manager, who told her the store did not adjust the weight of the product to account for the packaging weight. A friend of Griffin’s went to another Winnipeg Superstore and experienced the same problem.

Griffin reported the overcharge to the federal food inspection agency, but the agency did not inspect any stores, weigh meat or take enforcement action, the court papers claim; instead it relied on Loblaw’s assurance the issue had been resolved.

“To this day, we don’t know how many stores were affected or what steps they took to make sure that it isn’t still happening,” David Klein, a lawyer on the class action team, said Monday.

The lawsuit accuses Loblaw of misrepresentation, breach of contract, unjustly enriching itself, breaching the federal Competition Act and consumer protection legislation in several provinces.

If it’s certified as a class action, the lawsuit would seek damages for residents of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island who sign on as class members.

The defendants have yet to be served notice of the claim and haven’t responded in court. Representatives for the grocery giant did not return a request for comment.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca