Alcohol/Illegal Drugs Archives

Cornell University vs. New York Chapter of Phi Kappa Psi Association

Timothy M. Burke, Fraternal Law Partners, tburke@manleyburke.com Members of Phi Kappa Psi were part of the first graduating class at Cornell University in 1869, and for the next century and a half, the University and the Fraternity maintained a beneficial...

Sam Martinez Hazing Death: Sam’s Law and its Impact on Greek Organizations

Stephen R. Bernstein, Stephen R. Bernstein Law Offices, srb@srbernstein.com Sam Martinez, a 19-year-old student at Washington State University (WSU), pledged the Alpha Tau Omega (ATO) fraternity in July of 2019. He died on the morning of November 12, 2019, from...

Eighth Circuit: No Liability Due to “Efficient Intervening Causes ”

Hanna Puthoff,1 Fraternal Law Partners, hanna.puthoff@manleyburke.com Christopher Wheeler was a Creighton University student participating in the rush and initiation activities of Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity when he entered Teresa Spagna’s dorm room and slashed her throat with a pocketknife. Phi...

Fraternity Sued for Negligence Following Death Caused by Drug Overdose

Tim Burke, Fraternal Law Partners, tburke@manleyburke.com On the morning of January 17, 2020, Eitan Weiner, 19 years old, was found dead in a bathroom stall in the Theta Delta Chi house at Stanford University. Last month, his parents, dad a...

New Lawsuit Filed Alleging Hazing At Texas A&M

Tim Burke, Fraternal Law Partners, tburke@manleyburke.com On October 18, 2021 a lawsuit was filed in the Harris County District Court in Texas on behalf of two Plaintiffs, students at Texas A&M University, who were pledges of the chapter of the...

Collin’s Law: What it Means For Fraternal Organizations in Ohio

Ilana Linder, Fraternal Law Partners, Ilana.Linder@manleyburke.com On July 6, 2021, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine signed into law, “Collin’s Law: The Ohio Anti-Hazing Act” (“Collin’s Law”). While Ohio already had in place an anti-hazing statute (Ohio Rev. Code § 2903.31), Collin’s...

Bowling Green State University and VCU Statements

Tim Burke, Fraternal Law Partners, tburke@manleyburke.com Within the last month the families of Adam Oakes, a student at Virginia Commonwealth and Stone Foltz, a student at Bowling Green, have been left to mourn their deaths. Both a deaths are being...

Gruver Lawsuit Against LSU May Finally go to Trial

Tim Burke, Fraternal Law Partners, tburke@manleyburke.com Max Gruver died as a result of hazing fueled by alcohol poisoning in 2017. But the civil case brought by his parents has yet to even be scheduled for trial. Now it certainly appears...

“Off-Campus” Does Not Always Mean “Off the Hook”

Ilana L. Linder, Fraternal Law Partners, Ilana.linder@manleyburke.com In April 2015, Joseph Koch, a student at Kean University, was injured when he was shot by another individual while both were guests at a party at an off-campus house occupied by several...

The Last Two Defendants Plead Guilty to Charges Related To The Death of Collin Wiant

Tim Burke, Fraternal Law Partners, tburke@manleyburke.com Collin Wiant died on November 12, 2018,in an apparent hazing incident compounded by the use of drugs. Now, two years later, the final defendants facing criminal charges relating to his death have plead guilty.[1]...

More Guilty Pleas in Ohio University Hazing Death

Jim Schirmer, Manley Burke LPA, jim.schirmer@manleyburke.com In the wake of the death of Collin Wiant on November 12, 2018, Elijah R. Wahib, 22, of Westlake, OH, has pleaded guilty to two counts of felony obstruction of justice, felony permitting drug...

Lawsuit Over Max Gruver’s Death Will Continue Against LSU

Tim Burke, Fraternal Law Partners, tburke@fraternallaw.com The civil lawsuit filed by the family of Max Gruvercontinues on. Gruver died in a hazing incident in the Phi Delta Theta house at Louisiana State University (LSU). Among other defendants, the Gruver family...

The First Convictions In The Death Of Collin Wiant Are In – More To Come

Tim Burke, Fraternal Law Partners, tburke@fraternallaw.com Collin Wiant died on November 12, 2018. On February 27, 2020, the first three of nine students charged in his hazing-related death plead guilty and were convicted. Dominic Figliola was convicted of hazing and...

Lawsuit Filed Following Tragic Death At Cornell

Tim Burke, Fraternal Law Partners, tburke@fraternallaw.com To require or cajole a potential new member or pledge to drink anything to the point of being sick, especially alcohol, is the opposite of what brotherhood or sisterhood in a Greek organization should...

Defendants in Andrew Coffey Hazing Death Sent Back to Trial Court to Face Felony Charges

Tim Burke, Manley Burke LPA, tburke@manleyburke.com At the party, the victim’s Big Brother provided him with “a family bottle” of bourbon and told him that it was an expectation to finish the family bottle. Many Pledges drank to the point...

FIRE Responds to Ohio University’s Unconstitutional Restrictions

Tim Burke, Manley Burke LPA, tburke@manleyburke.com The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) weighed in on how Ohio University [OU] initially handled its broad investigation into alleged instances of misconduct by fraternities, three sororities, the University band, and its...

Lawsuit Alleges Disturbing Hazing

Katherine Schoepflin, Manley Burke, kschoepflin@manleyburke.com When a prospective member of a fraternity is seriously injured or dies as a result of hazing, in addition to likely criminal charges against the wrongdoers, a civil lawsuit will likely follow against the wrongdoers,...

Investigation into Tragic Death of Ohio University Student Focused on Hazing

Katherine Schoepflin, Manley Burke, kschoepflin@manleyburke.com Hazing is in the headlines once again, and this time all eyes are on Ohio University. OU has issued a cease and- desist letter to the Epsilon Chapter of the Sigma Pi Fraternity after the...

Important Decision in Delaware Case

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com “The sad and inescapable truth is that Ethan, and only Ethan, was responsible for his own death.”1 Those words by Judge Ferris W. Warden summarized his decision granting summary judgment in favor of all of...

PKA International Indicted

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com On December 14, 2017, a Grand Jury in Harris County, Texas (Houston) indicted Pi Kappa Alpha International Fraternity, Inc. for hazing. While the conduct described in the indictment which ultimately resulted in a lacerated spleen...

GUILTY! A National Fraternity Criminally Convicted

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com “AND NOW, this 21st day of November, 2017, the defendant, Pi Delta Psi Fraternity, Inc., having been found guilty of Count III, Involuntary Manslaughter, County IV, Aggravated Assault, Count V, Criminal Conspiracy, County VI, Hindering...

Fraternity Pledge's Family Files Wrongful Death Lawsuit

Colin Pool The family of a West Virginia University fraternity pledge who died from alcohol poisoning has filed a wrongful death suit.1 The suit, filed October 8, 20152 in the Monongalia County Circuit Court,3 alleges negligence and related claims against...

Pi Kappa Alpha Dismissed from Sexual Assault Case

Thomas J. Dement II, Leitner, Williams, Dooley & Napolitan, PLLC I. INTRODUCTION On October 27, 2015, Plaintiff Jane Doe filed a sexual-assault lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee in Nashville against three Pi...

Penn State: New Measures Hope for a New Beginning

Amy Hebbeler, Manley Burke, amy.hebbeler@manleyburke.com The wait of the Greek nation is over as Penn State students start back to classes and the comprehensive measures regarding Greek life at the University have been put into place. On August 21st the...

Who Will Govern? University Reactions to Fraternity Tragedies

Amy Hebbeler, Manley Burke, amy.hebbeler@manleyburke.com On the heels of the tragic death of Timothy Piazza at Penn State, a lawsuit has been filed in the wake of another tragic death of a Fraternity pledge following a night of hazing and...

Tragedy at Penn State and its Consequences

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com What could they have been thinking, these men of principle? Timothy Piazza is dead. For absolutely no reason. His parents are left to grieve in the wake of the inexplicable conduct of his would-be “brothers.” ...

New Lawsuit Filed

David Westol, Limberlost Consulting, Inc. A lawsuit with two interesting aspects that involve a chapter of a men’s national fraternity has been filed in the U.S. Federal District Court in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The lawsuit, which was filed...

Mandatory Student Drug Testing Ruled Unconstitutional

Micah E. Kamrass, Manley Burke, mkamrass@manleyburle.com A Federal Court of Appeals has ruled public colleges and universities that impose mandatory drug testing on all students are in violation of their students’ Fourth Amendment Rights. In a 9-2 ruling, the Eighth...

Three Sentenced to Jail for Hazing

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com The September 29, 2016 Roanoke Times reported that of the six members of Sigma Alpha Kappa who had been criminally charged in connection with the alcohol-related death of Michael Anthony Walker, a student at Ferrum...

Drug Testing for Alabama Football Fraternities

Sean Callan, Manley Burke, sean.callan@manleyburke.com Without attracting attention, the University of Alabama created and implemented a mandatory drug testing program aimed directly at fraternity members. According to recent published reports,1 UA now requires drug testing of members of multiple Greek...

22 Students Convicted in Hazing Death

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com Some two and a half years after the death of David Bogenberger, 22 former members of the Pi Kappa Alpha Chapter at Northern Illinois University stand convicted of misdemeanor hazing in what the state’s attorney...

Maine Supreme Court Hears Case on National Fraternity Liability

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com Now awaiting decision following oral argument on December 10, 2014 is a case in the Maine Supreme Judicial Court seeking to impose liability on the National Fraternity for the misconduct of an individual member of...

Is Shutting Down Greek Systems the Answer?

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com The recent Rolling Stone article “A Rape on Campus: A Brutal Assault and Struggle for Justice at UVA” begins with a detailed description of an ugly gang rape in the upper floor of a fraternity...

Nebraska Freshman Dies at Fraternity Chapter House

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com The morning of September 5th was unlike any other at the Farmhouse Fraternity residence at the University of Nebraska. Clayton Reel, an 18-year old freshman, was found dead in his room. Press reports indicate that...

Indiana Supreme Court Affirms Summary Judgment in Favor of National Fraternity

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com We are pleased to report that the position of the 23 NPC member groups who joined together in an amicus brief prevailed in Smith v. Delta Tau Delta, et al., Case No. 54S01-1405-CT-356. On May...

Greeks Continue to Receive Poor National Press

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com National press for the Greek world has not been good the last few months. A series of Bloomberg articles highly critical of fraternities and the record of hazing and alcohol-related deaths culminated in a January...

Colorado Court Compels Arbitration

Daniel McCarthy, Manley Burke As reported in the November 2012 issue of Fraternal Law, Scott Higuchi sued Delta Tau Delta and various other defendants after his son, Ross Higuchi, died in April 2011 when he fell from a balcony of...

Chapter Suspended for Facebook Posts

Micah Kamrass, Manley Burke, mkamrass@manleyburke.com Like many other fraternity and sorority chapters around the country, the Kappa Gamma Chapter f Pi Kappa Alpha at Florida International University utilized a Facebook page to facilitate member communications. The page included the fraternity...

Bogenberger Complaint Amended to Add 16 Women as Defendants

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com The death of David Bogenberger from alcohol poisoning with a blood alcohol content level five times the legal limit in Illinois has already garnered substantial media attention as a result of the arrest of 22...

SAE Insurance Not Required to Contribute to Settlement

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com Carson L. Starkey died on December 2, 2008, after participating in a "brown bag night," sponsored by the Sigma Alpha Epsilon Chapter at Cal Poly State University. He was a pledge. Starkey and other pledges...

Smith v. Delta Tau Delta; Rules and Enforcement May Create Claims under Assumption of Duty and Agency Theories of Liability

Sean Callan, Manley Burke, sean.callan@manleyburke.com In the fall of 2008, Johnny Smith was a freshman at Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Indiana. Mr. Smith pledged the Beta Psi Chapter of Delta Tau Delta and began living in the Beta Psi Chapter...

Death Leads to Charges and Civil Suit

Daniel McCarthy, Manley Burke On August 31, 2012, members of Theta Chi chapter at Fresno State allegedly locked 15 pledges in a room with eight bottles of hard liquor and told the pledges not to leave until the bottles were...

UCF Suspends Greek Life Activities

Dan McCarthy, Manley Burke In February, the University of Central Florida ("UCF") unilaterally suspended all Greek Life social, new member education and initiation activities "in order to work with fraternity and sorority chapters on comprehensively addressing alcohol and hazing activities."...

Chico State Suspends All Greek Organizations

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com In the last decade, California State University at Chico has experienced four deaths related to fraternities on its campus. The first three were hazing related. The most recent, the death of Mason Sumnicht, occurred in...

Tragedy at University of Northern Colorado: Complaint Filed Against Delta Tau Delta

Tim Burke, Chris Hoskins, Manley Burke An eighteen-year-old University of Northern Colorado freshman, Ross Higuchi, sustained fatal injuries from a fall during a fraternity party in 2011. After participating in rush activities for Delta Tau Delta (“DTD”), Higuchi received an...

Court Dismisses Sexual Assault Case

Trish Walsh, Brad Stanford According to her complaint, on Halloween night in 2008, a 21-year-old woman and former Oregon State University student was sexually assaulted by a member of the Oregon Beta Chapter of Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity in Corvallis,...

Chapter and Individual Member Held Not to be Named Insureds

Daniel McCarthy, Manley Burke The United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina recently granted summary judgment, finding that a chapter and individual members were not named insureds because of their bad behavior and failure to follow...

Upon Further Review: Are Chapter Designated Driver Programs Good in Theory But Bad in Practice?

The concept of a Designated Driver (DD) or “Delta Delta” program is a good example of first-echelon logic. The logic: Most chapter members will consume alcohol…that consumption will often occur at venues outside of the chapter house…that consumption will exceed...

Tennessee Court Holds That National Fraternity Does Not Owe a Duty to Third Parties

Coble Caperton, Rice, Amundsen and Caperton PLLC in Memphis, Tennessee and national general counsel for Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity, Inc., Mary L. Wagner Rice, Amundsen and Caperton, PLLC. In July 2006, Jeffrey Callicutt attended a party hosted by E.J. Cox,...

Mother Sues Sigma Alpha Epsilon and 20 Individuals Following Son’s Death

Daniel McCarthy, Manley Burke George Desdunes, a 19-year-old sophomore at Cornell University, died on February 25, 2011. His mother, Marie Lourdes Andre, filed a wrongful death lawsuit in June in state court in Brooklyn. The lawsuit seeks at least $25...

Insurers Won’t Defend Hazing or Alcohol Claims

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com When hazing causes a tragic death, or serious injury, it often leads to litigation. Some insurance providers are now taking a very hard look at whether or not they have responsibility to defend such litigation....

PURDUE WITHDRAWS RECOGNITION OF FRATERNITY

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com Recent news reports indicate Purdue University is stepping up actions against those fraternity chapters who encourage or require underage drinking by their members. In November, the Phi Kappa Theta Chapter, which was already on probation,...

INJURED FORMER PLEDGE SUES PHI GAMMA DELTA

Daniel McCarthy, Manley Burke In or about September of 2010, the members of the Pi Deuteron chapter began making preparations for their FIJI Island party. As part of these preparations, the active members ordered the pledges to construct a pool...

ARKANSAS DEMANDS INDEMNIFICATION

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com As reported in the November issue of Fraternal Law, a lawsuit was filed against Phi Delta Theta, some of its members and several administrators of the University of Arkansas. That suit grew out of conduct...

COMMON LEGAL ISSUES FOR COLLEGE STUDENTS

Daniel McCarthy, Manley Burke Life as a college student can often feel removed from the real world. Students can easily get so caught up in campus activities, studies and general college life that life some times does not seem to...

CALIFORNIA ESTABLISHES SOCIAL HOST LIABILITY

Daniel McCarthy, Manley Burke California recently enacted two bills regarding social host liability. Assembly Bill 2486 established social host liability to adults who consciously provide alcohol to minors who are subsequently injured or killed as a result of their drinking. ...

COLORADO COURT ISSUES IMPORTANT DISCOVERY DECISION

Daniel McCarthy, Manley Burke The parents of Brett Griffen, a pledge at the Sigma Alpha Mu (“SAM”) chapter at the University of Delaware who died from excessive alcohol consumption, sued SAM, the Delta Lambda Chapter of SAM and numerous members...

PHI DELTA THETA, OTHERS SUED

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com On October 18, 2010, Nicholas Brown and his family filed suit against Phi Delta Theta, its University of Arkansas chapter, the chapter’s house corporation, several officers and members of the chapter, and several university administrators.1 ...

ANOTHER HAZING AND DRINKING DEATH LEADS TO LAWSUIT

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com On September 22, 2010, a lawsuit1 sadly entitled “Complaint for Wrongful Death of a Child” was filed against Delta Tau Delta, its House Corporation at Wabash College, the College itself and two of the officers...

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS RULES IN FAVOR OF LAMBDA CHI ALPHA, HOUSE CORPORATION AND ADVISOR

Richard Charlton, The Winchester Law Firm, rcharlton@winchesterlawfirm.com A federal appellate court has recognized that a national fraternity (Lambda Chi Alpha), a house corporation, an alumni advisor and a chapter do not have any tort liability for the actions of a...

SIGMA CHI CHAPTER AT ARIZONA STATE SUED

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com On February 1, 2010, a lawsuit1 was filed against “the Sigma Chi Fraternity at Arizona State University” and that Chapter’s House Corporation, along with two specifically named members of the Chapter and 100 John Does. ...

SIGMA ALPHA MU CHAPTER FINED $50,000

Daniel McCarthy, Manley Burke The Sigma Alpha Mu Chapter at the University of Delaware was recently fined $50,000 by a judge for hazing. The Chapter was charged with hazing, a misdemeanor, following the 2008 death of Brett Griffin from alcohol...

DEATH AT PENN STATE LEADS TO CHARGES AGAINST ATO AND FIJI CHAPTERS AND 2 STUDENTS

Daniel McCarthy, Manley Burke Joseph Dado, an 18-year-old freshman at Penn State, was found dead on September 21, 2009 on campus. He was missing for almost 40 hours before he was found at the bottom of a stairwell. He died...

LAWSUIT FROM DEATH AT DREXEL

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com On October 19, 2009, a lawsuit was filed in Philadelphia by the Administratrix of the Estate of Michael Arizmendi. The defendants in the suit include several fraternities and the Interfraternity Council and “Panhellia Council” and...

SIGMA CHI AND ITS UGA CHAPTER SUED BY INJURED GUEST; INSURER FILES SUIT FOR DECLARATION OF NON-COVERAGE OF INSURANCE

Daniel McCarthy, Manley Burke On April 9, 2009, a lawsuit was filed in the Superior Court of Athens-Clarke County, Georgia, against Sigma Chi, its Delta Chapter at the University of Georgia, Sigma Chi’s Risk Management Foundation, the Delta Chapter House...

MEDICINAL MARIJUANA IN A CHAPTER HOUSE?

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com California leads the nation in allowing the possession and use of small amounts of marijuana for medical-related purposes. Even though members of a fraternity may have complied with California law for the purpose of possessing...

FAMILY SUES UTAH STATE; STUDENTS SENTENCED

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com As reported in the January 2009 issue of Fraternal Law, the death of Michael Starks at Utah State University led to criminal charges being filed against two fraternities and members of both of those chapters....

PENN STATE SUES TO PURCHASE FORMER PHI DELTA THETA CHAPTER HOUSE

Daniel McCarthy, Manley Burke On November 25, 2008, Penn State sued the former Pennsylvania Theta Chapter of the Phi Delta Fraternity and its current house corporation, 240 North Burrowes Road Alumni Association, in the Court of Common Pleas of Centre...

Default Judgment In Texas Set Aside

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com As reported in the November 2008 issue of Fraternal Law, in October, a Travis County Texas Trial Court judge had issued a $16.2 million default judgment against both National Sigma Alpha Epsilon and its chapter...

DEATH LEADS TO CHARGES AT UTAH STATE

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com The death of Michael Starks, an 18-year old freshman at Utah State University, has led to criminal charges against two fraternity chapters and 12 Greek members who are alleged to have been involved in his...

SIGMA ALPHA EPSILON ORDERED TO PAY $16.2 MILLION

Daniel McCarthy, Manley Burke In November 2006, Tyler Cross, a freshman at the University of Texas, fell to his death from a fifth floor balcony at his off-campus dormitory. Cross was a pledge of Sigma Alpha Epsilon. The police investigation...

DEATH AT WABASH COLLEGE

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com Early in October Johnny Smith was found dead in a pool of his own vomit in the Delta Tau Delta fraternity house at Wabash College. The Indianapolis Star reports that the County Coroner labeled alcohol...

UPDATE ON RIDER HAZING DEATH

Daniel McCarthy, Manley Burke As previously reported in Fraternal Law, Gary DeVercelly, an 18-year-old pledge of Phi Kappa Tau at Rider University, died in March 2007 after drinking a large amount of vodka. Four fraternity members and two Rider administrators...

COLLEGE PRESIDENTS SEEK TO REDUCE THE DRINKING AGE

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com Whether or not the now-universally mandated 21-year-old drinking age is helpful or harmful in dealing with alcohol abuse among college students is the focus of the Amethyst Initiative launched this summer by John McCardell, the...

Fraternity Charged With Hazing

The Phi Mu Delta chapter at the University of New Hampshire has been charged with hazing and facilitating an underage drinking party. Two students were found unresponsive with possible alcohol poisoning at the chapter house following a party at the...

DRUG BUST AT SAN DIEGO STATE

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com On Sunday morning, May 6, 2007, Jenny Poliakoff, a freshman member of Alpha Phi at San Diego State, was found dead in her apartment. The medical examiner subsequently found her death to be due to...

PHI DELTA THETA’S ALCOHOL-FREE POLICY UPHELD

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com A little over ten years ago, Phi Delta Theta took the dramatic step of adopting an Alcohol-Free Housing Policy, becoming the largest men’s organization to prohibit alcoholic beverages entirely from its chapter properties.1 The Phi...

FRESHMAN DIES AT CLEMSON UNIVERSITY

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com On December 9th, Benjamin Sprague, a freshman student at Clemson University, was found dead lying on a futon in the Sigma Nu Fraternity House where he was a member. He had a blood alcohol content...

DELTA UPSILON CLOSES IOWA CHAPTER FOLLOWING POT BUST

Dan McCarthy, Manley Burke Delta Upsilon recently closed its chapter at the University of Iowa after four members of the chapter were arrested following a December drug bust at the chapter house. Police raided the chapter house and found 650...

CHARGES DROPPED AGAINST RIDER U. OFFICIALS

Daniel McCarthy, Manley Burke filed hazing charges against five individuals, including two Rider University administrators, following the binge-drinking death of Gary DeVercelly. Mr. DeVercelly, a pledge of the Phi Kappa Tau fraternity, died in March from alcohol poisoning. His blood...

INSURANCE COVERAGE DENIED IN GEORGIA CASE

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com In April of 2003, members of the Lambda Chi Alpha Chapter at the University of Georgia took a potential pledge to several Athens, Georgia area bars to “entice him to become a member.” One of...

UNIVERSITY HIT WITH DAMAGES FOR USE OF ILLEGAL RECORDING

James Harvey The use of what a court described as “strong-arm tactics” and an illegal recording during university disciplinary proceedings has resulted in an award of more than $140,000 in damages to a fraternity. As part of the award, punitive...

TRAGEDY LEADS TO OFF-CAMPUS FRATERNITY SYSTEM

Dan McCarthy, Manley Burke Many of the most common and important topics discussed in Fraternal Law have all surfaced recently at the University of Colorado in Boulder. The very real potential consequences of hazing and alcohol abuse were once again...

A DEATH IN TEXAS

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com Hazing and alcohol continue to take a toll on college campuses, in spite of the efforts by national fraternities and colleges and universities which host fraternities to end the practice once and for all. A...

ALCOHOL-FREE HOUSING WORKS

Robert Manley, Manley Burke In 1997, Phi Delta Theta announced its intention to have all of its houses alcohol-free effective July 1, 2000. Naysayers predicted a parade of horribles: shrinking chapters, recruitment problems, loss of chapters, and general shrinkage. None...

WE MAY HAVE DONE IT WRONG THE FIRST TIME, BUT YOU ARE STILL GUILTY

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com In the early morning hours of September 12, 2004, Rachel Payne, a student at the University of Delaware, was killed by a railroad train. Earlier that night, she had been at a party at the...

HAZARDS OF DECORATIVE PARTY POOLS

Robert Manley, Manley Burke A 20-year-old University of Texas student is suing a fraternity Chapter for $25,000,000. Leslie Holloway claims his fraternity Chapter, Alpha Tau Omega, recently operated and built an unlicensed pool. He claims it was improperly designed, had...

THOUGHTLESS PRANK CLOSES FRATERNITY

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com What apparently began as someone’s ill-conceived idea of a prank has led to the banning of the Phi Kappa Sigma Fraternity at the University of New Hampshire and the criminal conviction of two of its...

ALCOHOL, DROWNING — A FRATERNITY BANNED

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com In the early morning hours of Sunday, April 4, 2004, Brent E. Johnson drowned in Cedar Lake. The lake, not very far from the Southern Illinois University at Carbondale (SIUC) campus, was the site of...

VICTIMS OF RAPE — AND ALCOHOL

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com The Journal of Studies on Alcohol published in its February issue a major new study “Correlates of Rape While Intoxicated in a National Sample of College Women.”1 The results came from 119 colleges participating in...

A PLEDGE DROWNS — $12.6 MILLION DOLLAR VERDICT

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com During the early morning hours of November 5, 2001, Chad Meredith, a pledge of the Epsilon Beta Chapter of Kappa Sigma Fraternity, along with Travis Montgomery, the Chapter President, and David May, the chapter rush...

TELL ME SOMETHING I DON’T KNOW

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com Phi Gamma Delta has produced a new powerful video aimed at the problem of binge drinking. It is dedicated to the memory of Scott Krueger “and to the strength and courage of the Krueger family.”...

MISSISSIPPI WRONGFUL DEATH CASES SETTLED

Nathan W. Sprong Two twenty-year-old Sigma Phi Epsilon recruits died July 26, 1998, the evening they attended a recruiting event for the Mississippi State University Chapter at the Iron Horse Grill in Jackson, Mississippi. Joshua Jones and Matthew Freeman were...

SPREADING LIABILITY FOR HAZING

Timothy M. Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com The Florida Third District Court of Appeals recently ruled that the Kappa Sigma Fraternity and its Epsilon Beta Chapter could not be sued in the State of Florida as an unincorporated association.1 That result...

44 INDIVIDUALS SUED IN DEATH OF PLEDGE

Timothy M. Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com Two years ago, in December of 2000, Terry Sterling died, allegedly as a result of choking on his own vomit after a bout of binge drinking. Sterling had been a freshman at Old Dominion...

MIT -- THE FRATERNITY SETTLEMENT EMPHASIZES EDUCATION AND PREVENTION

Timothy M. Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com Scott Kruger died at the age of 18 during his freshman year at the Massachusettes Institute of Technology. He attended a Phi Gamma Delta party where he was a pledge and consumed alcohol to...

RELATIONSHIP STATEMENTS: AN EFFORT TO FACILITATE A RELATIONSHIP?

Holiday Hart McKiernan Ms. McKiernan is the Executive Director and General Counsel of Alpha Chi Omega. She recently served on a four-member committee created by the Fraternity Executives Association (FEA) to study efforts to define the relationship between the Greek...

ENFORCEMENT OF TRADEMARKS

Robert E. Manley, Manley & Burke Phi Delta Theta International Fraternity filed suit against the members of a former Phi Delta Theta chapter that broke away and began operating under the name Phi Delta Alpha. Aside from their Greek letters,...

IN KANSAS - NO SOCIAL HOST LIABILITY

Matthew Prime was a 19-year old pledge of Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity at the University of Kansas. On Pledge Dad night, Prime consumed alcohol to the point that he lost consciousness. He was taken to the hospital where he was...

FROLIC INTO COURT

Robert E. Manley, Manley & Burke Everyone enjoys having fun. When people are having fun, they sometimes let down their guard and make a careless mistake. When alcohol, automobiles or rowdy behavior are involved, people sometimes get hurt. When people...

ALCOHOL DROWNS INDIANA FRATERNITY

Timothy M. Burke, Manley & Burke In 1998, Joe Bisanz died from asphyxia, according to The Indianapolis Star, as a result of ingesting so much alcohol at a party in the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity house that he choked on...

A NEW ATTACK ON KEG PARTIES: BUT IS IT LEGAL?

Lycette Nelson A year-old Ohio law attacking beer blasts and underage drinking is now itself under attack. The Ohio Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union is challenging the constitutionality of an Ohio keg law passed in August, 2000. The...

THE CHICO STATE LAWSUIT: IS ILLEGALLY SERVING ALCOHOL UNFAIR COMPETITION?

Timothy M. Burke, Manley & Burke The lawsuit filed by Michael and Edith Heideman, the parents of Adrian Heideman, who died in the Pi Kappa Phi House at Cal State-Chico, contains claims against the national fraternity, its chapter, officers of...

ANOTHER SENSELESS CAMPUS DEATH

Timothy M. Burke, Manley & Burke On January 27, 2001, 19-year old Seth Korona at tended, along with perhaps 400 other students, a Theta Chi rush party at Indiana University. A week later he was dead. During the party, Korona...

THE RESPONSE TO ALCOHOL DEATH AT CHICO STATE

Timothy M. Burke, Manley & Burke Adrian Heideman died on October 7, 2000, at Cal State-Chico's Pi Kappa Phi House . Adrian had been encouraged to drink a substantial quantity of blackberry brandy. The lawsuit that has now been filed...

CHAPTER MEMBERS FACE CRIMINAL CHARGES

Timothy M. Burke, Manley & Burke The Chapter President and two members of the Pi Kappa Phi Chapter at Chico State University were criminally charged and have now been convicted of "furnishing alcohol to a minor causing death." The charges,...

THERE IS SUCH A THING AS "TOO MUCH FUN"

Elianna Marziani (Reprinted with permission from The Trident, an independent student publication of Washington and Lee University) There is entirely too much drinking on the W&L campus, and it causes people to get hurt and killed. I have been wanting to write...

ANOTHER DRINKING DEATH

On October 6. 2000. the Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity at the California State University at Chico conducted what The San Francisco Chronicle described as a "ceremony." By 1 :00 a.m. the following morning. Adrian Heideman was dead in the fraternity...

THE FINAL SETTLEMENT: SIX MILLION DOLLARS

Timothy M. Burke, Manley & Burke On September 27, 1997, Scott Krueger, an 18 year old freshman at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, died from an alcohol related incident in the Phi Gamma Delta Fraternity house where he was living....

FRATERNITY NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR VOLUNTARY UNDERAGE DRINKING

Timothy M. Burke, Manley & Burke The Supreme Court of Iowa recently issued a well-crafted decision1 carefully distinguishing between the liability of a fraternity and a wrongdoing member. The decision also placed at least some responsibility on a decedent for...

DID M.A.D.D.'S LOBBYING ENCOURAGE BINGE DRINKING?

Robert E. Manley, Manley & Burke According to a survey by the Harvard School of Public Health 50% of male and 39% of female students surveyed reported that they had engaged in binge drinking within the preceding two weeks. About...

DEBATE: ALCOHOL-FREE? OR NOT?

Robert E. Manley, Manley & Burke "There is no more difficult problem in colleges today than how to reduce the risks of dangerous college-age drinking."1 Eleven men's fraternities have resolved to convert their houses into alcohol-free residences for their members....

"GUARDIAN ANGEL" FALLS DOWN ON THE JOB

Timothy M. Burke, Manley & Burke Under the laws of the State of Idaho, a sorority may be liable to one of its members who was injured as a result of becoming intoxicated at two fraternity parties even though the...

DUTY TO FRATERNITY GUESTS EXPLAINED BY INDIANA COURT

Timothy M. Burke, Manley & Burke In July, the Supreme Court of the State of Indiana issued decisions in three cases which may directly affect the responsibility of a fraternity chapter or a house corporation to protect its tenants or...

NEIGHBORS SEEKS TO OUTLAW GREEKS

Timothy M. Burke, Manley & Burke The City Council of Salt Lake City is threatening to eliminate off-campus fraternity houses associated with the University of Utah. Nonstudent residents of the Federal Heights neighborhood where the fraternity houses are located claim...

STRONGER ACTION URGED IN MIT DRINKING DEATH CASE

The November 1998 issue of Fraternal Law reported on e filing of criminal charges against the Phi Gamma Delta Chapter at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Scott Krueger, a freshman pledge of the chapter at MIT, died as a result...

PI LAMBDA PHI CASE AWAITS WORD FROM PENNSYLVANIA SUPREME COURT

Timothy M. Burke, Manley & Burke As reported in the November 1997 and September 1998 issues of Fraternal Law, the Pi Lambda Phi Fraternity has been engaged in litigation to protect its chapter and fraternity house at the University of...

ALCOHOL-RELATED DEATH AT TSU

(Reprinted from Fraternal Law, January, 1984) A Tennessee State University student died recently from alcohol poisoning at an off-campus party celebrating his fraternity initiation. Van L. Watts, of Birmingham, Alabama, was a 20-year old junior in the Department of Mechanical Engineering....

RAPE AT IOWA STATE?

Robert E. Manley, Manley & Burke An Iowa State University student was found not guilty of rape. A jury in the Story County District Court exonerated John Richard Tate, 25. His lawyer told the jury that he had sex with...

WARNING CRIMINAL SUSPECTS

Robert E. Manley, Manley & Burke The MIT prosecution makes it clear that there will be more criminal investigations of accidents and deaths caused by alcohol on college campuses. It is likely that individuals will be criminally prosecuted if they...

CRIMINAL PROSECUTION AT MIT

Timothy M. Burke, Manley & Burke 'We sent our son to MIT for five weeks and came down here and picked him up in a box...." Darlene Krueger, mother of Scott Krueger. The heartsickness of Scott Krueger's mother was evident...

TWO STATES - TWO DIFFERENT OUTCOMES ON SOCIAL HOST LIABILITY

Gary E. Powell Earlier this year, the highest courts of New York and Washington were confronted with social host liability cases arising from injuries suffered to third persons caused by an intoxicated underage drinker. The results in the two cases...

INTOXICATION IS NO EXCUSE

Robert E. Manley, Manley & Burke A male college student who climbed on the roof of the Delta Delta Delta Sorority House at Ohio State University was not relieved by his state of intoxication from the "reasonable person standard" in...

NIC ENDORSES ALCOHOL-FREE HOUSING

Robert E. Manley, Manley & Burke After six hours of debates and committee meetings, the National lnterfraternity Conference adopted a resolution to encourage "its member fraternities to pursue alcohol-free chapter facilities." The issue in the debate was not whether alcohol-free...

GREEK WORLD CHANGES SLOWLY

Robert E. Manley, Manley & Burke In the last quarter century there have been slow changes in the way in which Greek organizations manage their affairs. For decades, in some cases for a century or more, fraternities operated without comprehensive...

NPC RESOLUTION LENDS SUPPORT TO SUBSTANCE-FREE HOUSING MOVEMENT

Timothy M. Burke, Manley & Burke The National Panhellenic Conference (NPC) has added its voice to the growing support for substance-free Greek housing. At the National Panhellenic Conference biennial meeting in Norfolk, Virginia, on Saturday, October 18th, NPC unanimously adopted...

MARCHING AWAY FROM ALCOHOL

Robert E. Manley, Manley & Burke Alcohol is in the news everywhere. At the Louisiana State University, Benjamin Wynne apparently celebrated his acceptance into the LSU chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon with some of his new brothers at a local...

TWO CASES OF NOTE IN PENNSYLVANIA

Timothy M. Burke, Manley & Burke The enormous difficulties that drugs in a fraternity house can cause are underscored by recent events at the University of Pittsburgh. In the Spring of 1996, after the close of classes, local police raided...

COMPREHENSIVE PARTY PLANNING

Matthew W. FeHerhoff With the beginning of a new school year, students' thoughts not only turn to classes and books but also to social events and parties, with old and new friends. Often these social events involve alcohol. Therefore, with...

THE SAGA CONTINUES...

Timothy M. Burke, Manley & Burke On August 27, 1988, Rueben A. Hernandez was critically injured when his car was hit by a car driven by an individual who had just left a Delta Tau Delta pledge party at the...

ALCOHOL DEATH AT CLARKSON

Gary E. Powell On Saturday night, February 8, the members of the Theta Chi Chapter at Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York, invited 21 men who were interested in joining the fraternity to their off-campus chapter house. All of the...

DRUG RAID RESULTS IN SEIZURE OF FRATERNITY HOUSE

Timothy M. Burke, Manley & Burke In the early morning hours of February 3, 1997, representatives of the Southeastern Counties of Ohio Narcotics Task Force assisted by the Athens, Ohio Police Department and law enforcement officers from Ohio University raided...

ALCOHOL-FREE FRATERNITY HOUSES

Robert E. Manley, Manley & Burke Sigma Nu and Phi Delta Theta have both resolved to discontinue the consumption of alcohol in chapter houses effective the 1st of July, 2000. The parallel actions these two strong fraternities have taken is...

Fraternal Law Newsletter

Publications