A hotel in British Columbia has been found 50 per cent liable for the actions of a drunk patron who got behind the wheel and drove into a crowd of people, injuring five of them seriously.

On Wednesday, a B.C. Supreme Court judge found that bar staff at the Steveston Hotel in Steveston, near Richmond, clearly neglected their duty to stop 20-year-old Harry McWilliams from drinking and driving in June 1999.

He ruled that McWilliams, whose blood alcohol level was measured at twice the legal limit just after the crash, bears the other 50 per cent of responsibility for his actions.

Damages in the lawsuit have yet to be decided.

McWilliams has already pleaded guilty to impaired driving causing bodily harm and served a year under house arrest.

Lawyer Jim McNeney, who represents several of the victims, said the ruling contains the highest-percentage finding of responsibility against a drinking establishment in Canadian history.

Bars have been found to be between 35 and 40 per cent liable in past lawsuits.

"The evidence that we called demonstrated that he was so drunk he staggered out of the bar," McNeney said.

"A 17-year-old girl who was in the parking lot saw him trying to get into his car, took him back into the bar and tried to get the attention of the bar staff to say that he was going to drive, and actually stood in the bar itself and yelled out: 'Will nobody help me?'

"She was ignored.'"

McNeney said McWilliams then left the bar and got into his Chevette. He drove only about two blocks before pulling out to pass a stopped pickup truck and plowing into a group of young people on the side of the road.

Eric Tremblay, who is now 24, was thrown several metres and partially paralyzed when McWilliams ran into him. He will need care for the rest of his life.

"It's a lot of relief off my chest, because I don't have to worry anymore," Tremblay said after hearing about the judgment.

Past court rulings have widened the circle of parties that can be found responsible when people drink and drive, causing accidents.

In 2001, for example, the Ontario Superior Court ruled that a company hosting an office Christmas party should pay damages to an inebriated employee who crashed on the way home.

The same year, the B.C. Supreme Court ruled that parents who served alcohol to their children's teenaged party guests were partly liable for injuries caused when one of them drove drunk.

Just three weeks ago, the Supreme Court of Canada agreed to hear an appeal in a similar case from Ontario.

And in November 2004, Primus Automotive Financial Services Canada was found vicariously liable for $13 million in damages when a man driving a car the company had leased to him crashed it, severely injuring a passenger.