Bar operators may well be shuddering at the recent decision by SGI to sue owners of bars in Saskatoon.
The suit alleges to two bars allegedly over-served Catherine McKay, the drunk driver who killed the Van de Vorst family, continues to provoke discussion. McKay was sentenced to ten years in prison for killing the Van de Vorst family just north of Saskatoon in January 2016 while driving drunk.
Now SGI is looking to spread the blame going after Industrial Kitchen & Bar and the former operators of Crackers Licensed Cocktail & Dining Room for contributory negligence. The suit alleges the Saskatoon bars did not do enough to stop McKay from driving drunk.
The suit leaves two questions that need to be answered, and not necessarily by a judge in a court of law.
The first is simple, how far does responsibility for the actions of the individual extend to others?
Are the people operating a properly licenced bar responsible for not just how much is consumed by a patron, but what that patron does outside their establishment?
It was interesting to read a quote from one server in a recent Leader Post story suggesting they had; “called numerous people cabs who have got in them, drove away around the block and then come back to get in their car and drive away.”
It was also noted a bar has a difficult time assessing what drugs a person may be consuming which contribute to being impaired, or just what a person might have in their car that is a factor.
If the bar owner is responsible does it then extend to a government for allowing the sale of alcohol in the first place?
Most are going to think this an extreme suggestion, and it is in part.
However, governments knowingly allow liquor sales being well aware that in numerous cases people over indulge causing accidents and deaths all too frequently, so perhaps there is at least a modicum of responsibility.
And, perhaps in a time where the technology exists perhaps in car breathalysers should be mandated equipment just as seat belts and air bags are. A car breathalyser prevents drivers impaired by alcohol from driving the vehicle. The device is connected to your vehicle, and it has a pre-set level for blood alcohol concentration. If you blow into it when you are over the set limit, your vehicle won’t start.
Ultimately the individual needs to be responsible for their actions, and suing McKay makes sense. She drove the car that killed the people in the accident.
If SGI is successful in suing the bar owners it sends not just a message that they need to be more aware of what they serve to who, but will also be seen as a threat to business viability with a lawsuit hanging over the door every time a customer leaves. That is a threat to a sector of our economy which seems a step too far for SGI to go.
