In the fall of 2008, 235 people got sick dining at a Harvey’s fast-food restaurant at a major thoroughfare in North Bay, Ontario, about four hours north of Toronto.

A report by the North Bay and District Health Unit concluded the outbreak was probably caused by raw Spanish onions and poor cleaning of onion slicing machines.

The North Bay Nugget reported Monday that a motion has been scheduled for October for a judge to decide whether a civil lawsuit against Harvey’s Restaurant will be certified as a class action.

The story says a judge decides if a lawsuit can proceed as a class action on behalf of a group of people in situations where the case would be too expensive or too complex for one person to sue on his own.