In a potentially precedent-setting case, the co-owners of an eastern Ontario bar are facing manslaughter charges after a person left their establishment and caused a highway crash that left two people dead.
When Korin Howes left the Angry Beaver Bar and Grill in Belleville, Ont. last February, she drove her car the wrong way in the eastbound fast lanes of Highway 401 and slammed head-on into a car driven by Shaina Harrison.
Both of the 23-year-old drivers were pronounced dead at the scene.
It is alleged Howes was drunk when she left the bar.
The bar owners David Stoll and Philip Sztejnmiler now face two counts each of manslaughter, as well as liquor license violations including permitting the use of narcotics, serving alcohol outside business hours, providing alcohol to someone who is already intoxicated and giving alcohol away for free.
Criminal defence lawyer Norm Boxall says other bar owners and employees have good reason to be interested in the outcome of this case.
"This will send a ripple effect through persons in the hospitality industry, and perhaps even homeowners, for concern that if they serve persons to excess and those persons operate a vehicle that they wouldn't just be responsible civilly ... but they could be charged criminally and potentially go to jail," Boxall told CTV Ottawa.
After all, Boxall said, there's no insurance policy against being found guilty in a court of law.
"If you're found responsible criminally you can't insure yourself against that. You're going to jail," he said.
In order to prove its case, the Crown will have to establish that the accused knew, or should have known, that what they were doing would cause serious bodily harm or death.
Stoll and Sztejnmiler have been released pending their scheduled appearance in a Belleville court on July 26.
Since the crash, the Angry Beaver Bar and Grill had its liquor licence permanently revoked and the premises have been closed.
With files from CTV Ottawa's Katie Griffin
