The settlement between SGI and two bars that served alcohol to Catherine McKay the night she drove impaired and killed a family of four sets a precedent for Saskatchewan’s serving industry.
“Patrons behaviour is now the owner’s responsibility,” Jim Bence, president of Saskatchewan’s Hotel and Hospitality Association, said.
The settlement puts pressure on business owners, according to Bence.
“There’s liability from an owner’s perspective. If any over-service happens, then they’ll be held responsible for that. And financially, there’s just no way that they can make a go of it.”
A father and grandfather to the family who died said he hopes the settlement sends a message to businesses that serve alcohol.
“I hope it’s a wake-up call to drinking establishments,” Lou Van de Vorst, whose son, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren died in the collision, said.
“It doesn’t seem that they’re concerned what happens to a person once they consume liquor and get into a car and drive. That’s not their concern. Maybe this [settlement] makes it a bit more of a concern because there could be consequences to them.”
SGI took legal action against the businesses — Industrial Kitchen and Lounge and MCDE Holdings Ltd, which operates Crackers Licensed Cocktail and Dining Room — in July 2017, more than a year after collision.
It claimed the bars did not do enough to prevent McKay from driving away while “highly impaired."
McKay pleaded guilty to four counts of impaired driving causing death and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. She’s been serving time in a healing lodge since about one month into the sentence.
Details of the settlement between SGI and the bars were not disclosed.
