In Telford v. Hogan, the Plaintiff was injured as a passenger in a single vehicle collision, with the driver of the vehicle being impaired. The Plaintiff commenced an action for damages for pain and suffering, as well as other heads of damages. At a liability only trial, the Court was left to decide what the cause of the accident was, and whether or not the Plaintiff was contributorily negligent for voluntarily accepting a ride with the Defendant. The Court assessed 25% liability against the Plaintiff for interfering with the steering of the vehicle shortly before the accident. The Court also assessed 35% contributory negligence against the Plaintiff for voluntarily getting into a vehicle when it was obvious that the driver was impaired. It was also ruled that the Plaintiff had provided most of the alcohol to the Defendant driver before the two got into the car.
[103] Despite the efforts of Ms. Telford’s counsel to distinguish the above cases, all of them bear some resemblance to this case in that the passenger and the driver embarked on a drinking exercise or “hazardous enterprise” where both knew or should have known that the intoxication of the driver was inevitable. I would repeat that Ms. Telford was well aware that Ms. Hogan was drinking over the course of the day and she had particular knowledge of the quantity of what Ms. Hogan consumed as the majority of it came from her own drink container. Although she may not have been aware of exactly what Ms. Hogan consumed from Ms. Ettinger’s cup, she would also have been aware that Ms. Ettinger’s beverage was alcoholic and that Ms. Hogan was sharing that too.
[104] It does not follow that since Ms. Hogan was not exhibiting overt signs of impairment, one need not consider Ms. Telford’s lack of judgment in both offering her drink to Ms. Hogan and then getting in the vehicle being driven by Ms. Hogan for the trip home. To the extent that later in the day, Ms. Telford drank alcohol to the point of being severely intoxicated herself confirms that she failed to take reasonable steps to ensure her ongoing ability to assess her safety over the course of the trip home.