Are Membership Dues and Tuition Considered Consumer Merchandise?

Ilana L. Linder, Manley Burke, ilinder@manleyburke.com The families of two of the five Truman State University (TSU) students who committed suicide have filed a lawsuit against the University, the Alpha Kappa Lambda (AKL) fraternity, and Brandon Grossheim, a former student...
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Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals Issues Ruling in Purdue Title IX Case

Timothy M. Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com The Seventh Circuit United States Court of Appeals issued a decision on June 28, 2019, that closely considered the issue of due process rights in state college disciplinary proceedings. The court also considered what...
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Title IX Due Process Applies to Private Schools

Timothy M. Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com As is too often the case in issues of sexual assault, the facts in the following matter are clouded by alcohol and drug consumption. In Federal Court in Memphis, John Doe challenged Rhodes College’s...
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Courts Continue To Struggle To Define Due Process In The Student Disciplinary Process

Timothy M. Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com Attempts by courts to define what due process is appropriate in a student disciplinary proceeding remain far from producing unanimity of results. The United States First Circuit Court of Appeals in August acknowledged its...
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Major Early Victory for Greek Organizations in Federal Suit Against Harvard

Sean Callan, Manley Burke, sean.callan@manleyburke.com We all know Harvard cannot abide fraternities or men’s finals clubs. That distaste, seemingly rooted in a patriarchal notion that the administration knows “what’s best” for Harvard students, has been on display for years. That...
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Louisiana Legislature Amends Hazing Law to Impose stricter requirements.

Timothy M. Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com After the death of Max Gruver in 2017, the Louisiana legislature adopted one of the toughest hazing laws in the country. Now the legislature has imposed even greater requirements when it comes to reporting...
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Jury convicts Matthew Naquin of negligent homicide in the death of Max Gruver

Timothy M. Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com On Wednesday, July 17, 2019, at the end of a six-day trial, a jury convicted Matthew Naquin of negligent homicide in the death of Max Gruver. Gruver died 2 years ago of alcohol poisoning...
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LSU loses motion to dismiss the Gruver Estate’s Title IX Claims

Micah Kamrass, Manley Burke, mkamrass@manleyburke.com On July 19, 2019, Chief Judge Shelly Dick of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana issued a decision that could have sweeping implications for fraternities and sororities. As part of...
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Overtime Regulation Revamp Continues Forward Under Trump Administration With Two Notices of Proposed Rulemaking

John Christopher, Manley Burke, john.christopher@manleyburke.com On Thursday, March 7th, the Department of Labor published a proposed rule which, if implemented, would substantially modify the rules governing overtime pay—including increasing the salary threshold for overtime exemption from $23,660 ($455/week) to $35,308...
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California Appellate Court Breaks New Ground in Fraternity Litigation

Clark Brown, North American Interfraternity Council, General Council OVERVIEW In California, no state appellate court had considered the issues of duty of care and vicarious liability in the fraternity context until the Court of Appeal of California issued its opinion...
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