There are three controllers: Lions, Tigers, Bears each with just an index and show action. Each one is running the same functional tests. BearsController is using "normal" actions defined in the controller LionsController is using CanCan's load_and_authorize_resource TigersController is using CanCan's load_and_authorize_resource on top of InheritedResources Note that if you comment out "load_and_authorize_resource" in TigersController, the tests pass. bundle install rake db:migrate rake