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Fraternity
Hazing Results in Wrongful Death Lawsuit
Personal
Injury Case Study
Fraternity hazing stories have become almost
legendary for their outrageousness. Unfortunatey, as demonstrated in
this wrongful death case example, fraternity initiation practices are
often dangerous and can ruin lives. Here we discuss important
legal issues in the case including the incident,
liability,
injuries, negotiations,
and the final case resolution.
The Incident...
Drew’s fraternity started the pledging process whereby they initiated
a new group of young men into the fraternity. As part of
pledging, the young men were required to drink large sums of alcohol,
do embarrassing things in public and go out scantily clad in inclement
weather.
On the
evening in question, Drew (who weighed 150
pounds and was 5'9") drank 16 beers and 3 shots of tequila. He
was then required to go outside in the middle of winter when
it was 20
degrees wearing nothing but boxer shorts. After 5
minutes, Drew began banging on the door asking to be let back inside
the warmth of the fraternity, but the fraternity members refused,
due
in part to their own drunkenness.
Drew was too intoxicated
to summon help elsewhere and passed out in the snow not three feet from
the front door of the fraternity. Drew was not discovered
until the next morning at which time he had already been deceased for
at least
three hours.
Liability...
Initially, criminal charges were brought against 3 out of 37 fraternity
members since they were considered the master-minds behind this
fraternity hazing ritual. That night, 6 additional pledges had to be
rushed to the local emergency room for alcohol poisoning.
However, the district
attorney declined to press charges when it was
discovered that Drew continued drinking and was not coaxed into doing
so by anyone.
It was further revealed that Drew was a binge
drinker. Without being able to tie his intoxication to the
fraternity brothers, the district attorney felt that it could be argued
that he died of natural causes.
This did not
stop Drew’s
family from filing a lawsuit for wrongful death against
the university,
the fraternity and the three fraternity brothers involved. The
basis was that the university knew about the dangerous fraternity
hazing practices and failed to do anything about them (such as
reprimand or suspend the fraternities).
The fraternity also
knew and in fact supported these practices and had written policies
and procedures allowing for such pledging rituals. The boys
were charged with being grossly
negligent for providing excessive
alcohol and most importantly, for failing to let Drew in and render aid to him. Though
the law states there is no affirmative duty to
rescue, if you
create the peril, there is.
Injuries...
Drew died of
alcohol poisoning and hypothermia.
Negotiations...
The University argued that it did not know about the fraternity
initiation practices and, as a private organization not affiliated with
the
school, they did not have any authority to sanction their
behavior.
The fraternity argued that it, too did not know
anything about the abuse of alcohol and declined to accept liability
for the death. The three boys sued were all 22 years old with
literally no assets. Drew’s parents hired an attorney who filed a
wrongful death lawsuit
against all parties involved.
Final
Settlement...
The
University settled with Drew’s family for an undisclosed
sum of
money with the provision that that they would open an alcohol
rehabilitation facility for University students in Drew’s name and shut
down the fraternity.
The fraternity filed for bankruptcy and
did not pay any settlement.
The three boys had judgments
against them for $100,000 each that remained on their credit for the
next 10 years.
Important
Points...
- Settlements can be financial, but they can also
bring about pro-active change such as the alcohol rehabilitation clinic
and shutting down the fraternity.
- Even if a person does not have any resources,
they can still have a judgment entered against them which can be
detrimental.
- Bankruptcy can be a limitation to collection in
a personal injury lawsuit.
- Even though a party is charged in criminal
court, one can still pursue them in civil court for wrongful death.
Return
from Fraternity Hazing Death to Wrongful
Death Cases
Return
from Fraternity Hazing Death to Personal
Injury Settlements
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