The family of Emily Bernauer has filed a $3.65-million lawsuit against Sobeys, the Shores of Erie Wine Festival, and two festival organizers.
The Statement of Claim names Bernauer's parents, Christian and Kimberly Bernauer, her brother Christian, her sister Priscilla and grandparents Lenard and Olga Beaudoin as Plaintiffs in the case. It was filed on September 2, just shy of the second anniversary of the single-vehicle crash that killed the teen as she drove home from the Shores of Erie Wine Festival.
The 18-year-old had been working in the Sobey's tent as a volunteer at the festival.
A post-mortem found alcohol in her system, and Amherstburg Police Service alleged Bernauer had been texting while driving when she rolled her vehicle on Concession Rd. 2 N the evening of September 6, 2014. Police also alleged she had marijuana in her system.
Several members of the Shores of Erie Wine Festival were charged in connection with the crash, but the charges were later dismissed.
The festival, a perennial favourite in Essex County, has been cancelled the past two years as the charges made their way through the courts.
The claim alleges festival organizers provided Bernauer with alcohol to drink when "they knew or ought to have known that she was not of legal drinking age." It continues to say "the defendants did not prevent Emily from driving."
The allegations have not been proven in court.
A release from Beckett Personal Injury Lawyers says the family does not desire litigation, but "we fully expect that the evidence will, in the end, prove definitively that Emily was not in fact texting while driving, nor was she impaired in any way by the effects of marijuana or any other drug."