'Tis the season of holiday parties with many over imbibing
on egg nog and other festive cocktails. Unfortunately, overdoing it
during the holiday festivities can give rise not only to
hangover-related headaches, but also to various forms of liability
headaches.
Two recent Alberta decisions illustrate the potential types of
claims that could arise out of a boozy holiday gathering.
Employer Liability
The liability of employers towards employees who consume alcohol
at work gatherings (formal, informal, holiday or otherwise) was
recently canvassed by the Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta in
Jenkins v. Muir, 2012 ABQB 352.
In that decision, Melanie Bakalar, an employee of 4M Water
Hauling Ltd. ("4M"), was killed in a head-on collision in
the early hours of the morning when the vehicle that she was
driving crossed the centre line and collided with a truck. Expert
evidence established that at the time of the accident, Ms. Bakalar
had a blood alcohol level of 3x the
