Stone Foltz Parents Sue Bowling Green State University

Gracie Woodyard,[1] Fraternal Law Partners, gracie.woodyard@manleyburke.com

Fraternal Law Partners has continued to report on the death of Stone Foltz, who tragically died after a Pi Kappa Alpha hazing ritual at Bowling Green State University’s (“BGSU”).

            In June 2022, Foltz’s parents, Shari and Cory, filed a separate lawsuit against BGSU in the Ohio Court of Claims. The Ohio Court of Claims only has one defendant—the State of Ohio, which includes state colleges and universities like BGSU—and hears claims against the State for money damages. The exact amount of damages Foltz’s parents are seeking in this new suit is unknown, but they are seeking substantially more than the $25,000 jurisdictional minimum “to reflect the value of the loss of this young life.”^[1]

             Foltz’s parents bring two main claims against BGSU. First, they assert that BGSU violated Ohio’s anti-hazing statute because “BGSU turned a blind eye to hazing within the Greek organizations on its campus.”^[2] Second, as part of a survival action, Stone’s parents have set forth a wrongful death claim, stating Stone died as a result of “BGSU’s gross recklessness, lax policies, lax enforcement of those policies, promotion of PIKE’s Delta Beta Chapter, perfunctory ‘investigations,’ and willful inaction in the face of repeated warnings.”^[3]

            This lawsuit is separate and distinct from the civil suit the family filed against the Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity, the local chapter, and individual members of the fraternity.

1 Gracie Woodyard is a summer legal intern at Manley Burke and is a rising second-year law student at the University of Dayton.

[1] Complaint at *26, Foltz v. Bowling Green St. Univ., No. 2022-00498JD (Ohio C.P. June 23, 2022).

[2] Id. at *2.

[3] Id.