Liability of bar for intoxicated customers

From the Sudbury Star:

Board investigating Hanmer bar left by accused

An impaired driving crash on the weekend that took the lives of three teens serves as a harsh reminder for bar owners.

Under the province's Liquor Licence Act, bar staff cannot allow an intoxicated patron to enter the establishment, said Lisa Murray, spokesperson for the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario.

Neither can bar staff serve a patron to the point of intoxication, she said.

Murray said the commission is conducting an investigation into what happened at Cranky Joe's in Hanmer on Saturday night and early Sunday.

A 26-year-old man was at the establishment that night, bar owner Rob Ferrucci said.

When staff suggested the man shouldn't be driving, Ferrucci said the man told staff he had $70 and a tow truck was going to tow him and his vehicle home.

Nicholas Piovesan has been charged with three counts of impaired driving causing death, three counts of criminal negligence causing death, three counts of failing to remain at the scene of an accident and one count of driving above the legal limit of alcohol in his blood.

The man then allegedly got in his car and drove down Municipal Road 80. Three teens, Steven Philippe, 16, Jazmine Houle, 15, and Caitlin Jelley, 15, were killed after being hit by the driver's vehicle on Municipal Road 80 near Gatien Street.

Bar owners can be charged by police with provincial offences under the Liquor Licence Act.

Bar owners and even hosts of private parties also have a liability under civil law to ensure "whomever you are serving alcohol to is not so intoxicated that they injure themselves or others," said James Morton, a lawyer and former bartender in Toronto.

"As a bartender, you have an enhanced responsibility over, say, a homeowner," Morton said.

If a guest hides the fact they are drinking too much, a homeowner most likely won't be liable. A bartender, however, has an obligation to actually watch for people who are impaired.

"That's part of your duty as a bar owner," Morton said.

The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario can suspend or revoke a liquor licence if an establishment breaks the rules and regulations set out by the Liquor Licence Act.

"If they failed in their duty to keep an eye out on this customer, then they may be subject to significant civil liability," Morton said.

"The question becomes now not so much legal as factual. What steps did the tavern owner, restaurant owner or staff there take to ensure people were not drinking too much?" he posited.

The courts look at what steps were taken to prevent an intoxicated person from driving.

"The appropriate thing is to say, 'no, you are going to leave the car here tonight and I'll call a taxi,' " Morton said.

- By Rachel Punch, The Sudbury Star

James Morton
1100-5255 Yonge Street
Toronto, Ontario
M2N 6P4

416 225 2777