CHEYENNE  — A head-on collision that killed a Ten Sleep couple last year is prompting a new legal challenge to a state law that protects bar owners from being held responsible for the actions of intoxicated patrons.

John and Carol Munkberg died Jan. 28, 2008, in a fiery crash in Big Horn County. He was 70, and she was 66.

The other driver, Randall LaBrie, 41, of Malta, Mont., had a blood alcohol level of 0.16 percent — twice the legal limit — and was driving in the wrong lane, police reports stated. LaBrie and his two passengers also died.

The Munkbergs’ relatives sued this week, seeking damages from Doug and Denny Freier, owners of two Big Horn County saloons that LaBrie reportedly visited before the crash.

Pat Crank, a former state attorney general now in private practice in Cheyenne, represents the Munkbergs’ relatives in the lawsuit.

The lawsuit asks District Judge Steven Cranfill of Cody to declare that a Wyoming law that protects bar owners from legal action stemming from the actions of intoxicated patrons is unconstitutional. In the alternative, the lawsuit asks the judge to certify the question of whether the law is constitutional to the Wyoming Supreme Court.

As it is now, a bar owner can keep serving someone who’s clearly drunk and not be held responsible, Crank said Wednesday.

“We really think it’s time to try to reduce this carnage that’s occurring on our highways,” he said.

The Wyoming Supreme Court, in a 3-2 decision, upheld the constitutionality of the law limiting bar owners’ liability in 2003.

Crank noted that the Wyoming Legislature in recent years has outlawed open containers of alcohol in vehicles and has tightened penalties for drunken driving. It’s time for the high court to reconsider the constitutionality of granting immunity to bar owners, he said.

Doug Freier said Wednesday that he and his wife, Denny Freier, haven’t seen the lawsuit and couldn’t comment on it.

But Doug Freier said the accident affected him and his wife deeply and they are saddened for all the victims and their families. The couple have trained their bartenders carefully and have a policy manual about how to serve patrons responsibly, he said.

“This is exactly the type of thing that I don’t want happening,” Doug Freier said of the crash that killed the Munkbergs.

He said he believes that people are responsible for their own actions and Wyoming law exists to protect bar owners from the actions of private individuals.

The Wyoming State Liquor Association supports the state law protecting bar owners. Mike Moser, the association’s executive director, said Wednesday that he hadn’t seen the Munkberg lawsuit and couldn’t comment on it specifically.

“Essentially loosening these laws doesn’t cure any problems, except acting as an economic development device for trial attorneys,” Moser said.

Overturning the law would result in every bar owner in the state paying higher insurance premiums, Moser said.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Tony Ross, who sponsored legislation that went into effect in 2007 outlawing open containers of alcohol on roads, said he’s not aware of any push to repeal the law protecting bar owners.