Drunk Woman Who Blew Up Home Causing $15M In Damages Sues Beverage Company For Serving Drinks

A Canadian woman who caused a massive explosion and millions in damages after driving drunk is now suing the company that provided her alcoholic beverages, claiming that the owners are to blame.

On Aug. 14, 2019, Daniella Leis, 26, drove home from a Marilyn Manson concert at the Budweiser Gardens arena in London, Ontario, after drinking at the show, the CBC reported.

Leis crashed her Ford Fusion — registered to her father — into a brick home at 450 Woodman Avenue, rupturing a gas line, the New York Post reported. This resulted in a massive explosion that destroyed four houses and injured seven people.

Falling embers resulted in blazes in several houses nearby. The entire community had to be evacuated, with gas and water services shut off in the area.

The blast reportedly caused damages worth between $9.8 million and $14.7 million.

"The financial impact of Ms. Leis' actions have been enormous, with a total damage estimate approaching $15 million," Judge George Orsini told the court.

The victims included two police officers and two firefighters who suffered several injuries, with one firefighter forced to spend more than a week in a hospital before being discharged.

Leis pleaded guilty in October 2020 to four counts of impaired driving causing bodily harm for the crash that set off the Woodman Avenue explosion. She was given a three-year prison sentence in February 2021.

This month, she and her father Shawn Leis filed a lawsuit against Ovations Ontario Food Services, a company that provides food and beverage service at Budweiser Gardens.

In a statement of claim obtained by CBC, Daniella alleged that the company shares some of the liability for civil lawsuits filed by victims of the blast against her and her father over the explosion. The father and daughter are facing six lawsuits in connection to the incident, according to the statement of claim.

Daniella and her dad claimed that the libations purveyor shares liability for the blast because staffers "ejected Leis from the venue while failing to take steps to ensure she would not drive home," according to the legal documents.

In addition, Daniella also alleged that Ovations had served her alcohol while aware that she was intoxicated, accusing them of putting "profit above safety," and that the resulting damage was "caused or contributed to by the negligence, breach of duty, breach of contract" by the bar.

They believe that the company is responsible for "any awards or judgment amounts" resulting from several court claims levied against them by Woodman Avenue victims.

The claim said that if Leis and her father are required to pay any amount, then they are "entitled to contribution and indemnity from [Ovations]."