SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - A Yellowknife pub won a partial victory in Supreme Court on Friday as Justice Adam Germain of Alberta struck down one of two liquor act charges against Sam's Monkey Tree Pub.

Steve Dinham, owner-manager of Sam's Monkey Tree Pub, succeeded in having one of the liquor act violations against his establishment thrown out in Supreme Court on Friday. - NNSL file photo

On Jan. 25, 2011, the five-member Liquor Licensing Board of the NWT found the pub guilty of allowing an intoxicated person to remain inside the pub and for having an employee drinking alcohol on the job. Both complaints were directed at the same person - the pub's doorman. For the first offence, the board fined the pub $2,000 and suspended its licence to serve alcohol for one day. The pub was fined $3,000 and had its liquor licence suspended for three days for the second offence.

The charges were the result of an Oct. 3, 2010, incident when two Yellowknife RCMP officers entered the Range Lake Road pub at 1:18 a.m. after receiving an anonymous tip that a doorman at the pub was drunk. The officers found the doorman and spoke to him for a few minutes. One of the officers testified at the liquor board hearing that the doorman was noticeably intoxicated with glossy red eyes, slurred speech, involuntary eye closure, and he was leaning against the wall to keep his balance. He also had a strong smell of alcohol coming from his breath, according to the Mountie. Even though Steve Dinham, owner-manager of the pub, disagreed with the officer's determination that the employee was intoxicated, he agreed to remove the doorman from active duty at the time.

The consequent suspension of the Monkey Tree's liquor licence was supposed to begin on Wednesday, Feb. 23 at 10 a.m. and last until Monday, Feb. 28, at 10 a.m. The deadline to pay the fines was also Feb. 28.

However, Dinham filed an appeal with the Supreme Court, and on Feb. 22, Justice Edward Richard ordered a stay of the liquor board's decision, allowing the pub to remain open until the matter was heard in court.

On Friday, Germain threw out the second charge on the grounds the liquor board only inferred the employee had been drinking on the job and lacked any direct supporting evidence. He ruled the employee could have been drinking alcohol at any point in the evening and not necessarily during working hours.

At the Jan. 25 hearing, the board accepted GNWT lawyer Brian Asmundson's argument that the only reasonable explanation for the employee being drunk at 1:18 a.m. was that he had been drinking on the job.

With respect to the first count, Germain didn't challenge the facts of the liquor board's decision or the evidence provided by an RCMP officer that the doorman was intoxicated. On Jan. 25, Dinham disputed this, saying he had contact with the doorman throughout the evening and didn't notice any signs of intoxication. He also questioned how the officer could conclude with certainty the employee was intoxicated without any empirical evidence, such as a breathalyzer test. Germain allowed the pub to remain open until the liquor board has set a new hearing date, at which time a new date for the liquor licence suspension and fine payment will be set.

Yesterday, Don Kindt, chair of the board, told Yellowknifer a new date hasn't been set because the board hasn't reviewed the court's ruling. Kindt's comments came during a break at another board hearing involving the Monkey Tree. The pub is charged with serving and allowing an intoxicated person to remain in the pub on Feb. 6 after a woman reportedly vomited on herself.

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