Daniel McCarthy, Manley Burke Judge Steven A. Brick, of the Superior Court of Alameda County, California, recently granted the defendants Demurrer to Complaint in South of Campus Neighborhood Ass’n v. Interfraternity Council et al., Case No. RG10494360.  As reported in...

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,...

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts recently upheld the rights of students in their dormitory room to be free from unauthorized searches by law enforcement personnel. Responding to the report of weapons being seen in...

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...

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com The Christian Legal Society case which earlier resulted in a 5 to 4 decision by the United States Supreme Court1,  upholding the denial of recognition to CLS by Hastings College of Law was returned to...

Craig Moore, Armstrong Teasdale LLP (co-chair, Social Media practice group), cmoore@armstrongteasedale.com In the ever growing age of social media, the challenges faced by fraternal organizations are not always as apparent as one might think.  Recently, MSNBC reported (http://on.msnbc.com/fiqs2y) that numerous...

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...

Daniel McCarthy, Manley Burke Police were called to the Lambda Chi Alpha chapter house at Florida State University at 1:16 a.m. on Sunday, January 9, 2011.  Ashley Cowin, a 20 year-old sophomore at FSU and a member of Chi Omega,...

Dianne Chipps Bailey & Seth Huffstetler, Robinson, Bradshaw & Hinson, PA, dbailey@rbh.com & shuffstetler@rbh.com When a collegiate chapter of a national fraternity or sorority loses its charter or otherwise becomes dormant, whether permanently or temporarily, special attention must be paid...