Sixteen claims have been filed by people on P.E.I. to get settlement money from Maple Leaf Foods in a class action lawsuit stemming from last summer's listeriosis outbreak.

'There's room for people to cheat.'— Tony Merchant, class action lawyer

This despite the fact that the Department of Health did not confirm any cases of listeriosis from the tainted meat in the province.

During the largest food recall ever in Canada, more than 200 Maple Leaf meat products were flagged for possibly containing listeria. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency linked bacteria-infected meat to 20 deaths and 56 cases of illness.

But a number of class-action lawsuits that have been launched spread the scope of the recall far beyond what CFIA found. The suits claim there are thousands of people who are owed compensation, and Maple Leaf has agreed to settle valid claims.

Family fell ill

Tony Merchant, of Merchant Law Group in Saskatoon, is the lead lawyer for one of the class actions. He has 16 claims from P.E.I. amongst the 4,200 signed on to his lawsuit, which could represent as many as 30 Islanders.

One claim, for example, is a family of four, with two small children, reported by the mother.

"They all had fever, diarrhea, which lasted for about three days. She had additionally been experiencing headaches," said Merchant.

This family could be eligible for at least $3,000, said Merchant, even if they were never tested at a doctor's office, and even if they don't have proof they ate tainted meat.

"There's room for people to cheat. But the research on cheating is that it's not very common," he said.

The cases will be assessed by an independent adjudicator before they're paid out.

Merchant said the most scrutiny and demand of proof will be applied in cases of hospitalization and death, where the payouts could be the tens of thousands of dollars, or more.