Fatal accident raises questions of host liability
A North Saanich town councillor may be open to legal action after one teenager died and three others were injured in a car accident, after leaving a party at her home.
North Saanich councillor Dorothy Hartshorne says she did not serve alcohol at her daughter's 18th birthday party.
But she knew some teens were drinking there, and says that's why she and her husband tried to monitor the situation.
"I really believe we did all we could to look after these kids," she says. "The horrible, horrible irony is we were trying to keep them safe."
That included offering rides, and questioning the driver of the car that crashed who said he had not been drinking.
- INDEPTH: The host and the drunk driver
Despite their efforts, experts like Victoria lawyer Neil Carfra say social hosts may still be held liable by the courts.
"So when you get a case where if you've got somebody who's tried to do that, and they're still found liable, the message it says to everybody else is, 'Kids, if you're going to drink, I don't want to know anything about it. Do it some place else'."
Two cases involving the legal responsibilities of social hosts are currently making their way through the courts, and Carfra expects them both to end up being decided by the Supreme Court of Canada.
One of the cases involves an Okanagan couple who were sued after a teenage boy was badly injured in a car accident following a party at their home.- FROM MAR.16, 2001: Parents liable for teen drinking crash: B.C. court
- FROM MAR.22, 2002: New trial ordered in teen party case
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