Two worrisome situations...
 

Something for chapter officers to consider:

"The father of a University of Miami freshman who drowned during an alleged
hazing incident in November 2001 cannot sue his son's fraternity for
damages because it is a nonprofit, unincorporated organization, the 3rd
District Court of Appeal has ruled.

The father, William Meredith of Indianapolis, can only sue the fraternity,
Kappa Sigma, for his son's death by serving the members individually, a
three-judge panel unanimously decided on Feb. 12."

So, officers and advisors put themselves at risk when their chapters break the rules.

And then, to make the potential even worse:

"Cal Poly's multicultural fraternities, sororities left uninsured

By Stacee Dorning, Mustang Daily

The California Polytechnic State University multicultural greek community
has seen hard times, but an even tougher future lies ahead. Associated
Students Inc. stopped carrying greek organizations on its insurance policy
in summer 2002.

For social fraternities and sororities, this decision caused little change
in the insurance coverage they receive from their national organizations.

However, the multicultural greeks were not so lucky.

Due to their smaller stature and lack of large national chapters to turn
to, these groups were left uninsured.

For greek organizations, being uninsured means not being able to hold any
type of event, whether it is a social function or a community service
meeting, said Joseph Risser, Cal Poly risk manager.

Risser said facility owners can not risk having events for greek clubs that
don't have insurance. There is too much liability for both the club and the
facility owner if something were to go wrong.

"We're considered high-risk," said Eddie Gomez, president of the Cal Poly
Multicultural Greek Council and member of Nu Alpha Kappa. "It's too hot of
an item; nobody wants to touch it."

After the loss of ASI insurance, multicultural Greeks have been searching
for a solution to their problem. With the help of Risser, the multicultural
greek council found Kirklin & Company, a Midwest-based insurance company
specializing in risk management for the greek organizations.

Kirklin & Co. insures more than 46 members of the North American
Interfraternity Conference, designing general liability insurance programs
for various chapters.

Gomez and the multicultural greek council received a $ 5,000 cost estimate
from Kirklin & Co. This has been the group's best prospect but is still
more expensive than its members can afford, Gomez said.

The multicultural greek council is now asking ASI, Student Life and
Leadership and community sponsors for financial support to help pay for the
$ 5,000 policy.

Risser said the multicultural greeks have two options. The first is for
each fraternity and sorority to insure themselves individually, which would
mean they each have to pay for an individual policy. The second option is
to insure the governing multicultural greek council as a whole with one
policy. That policy would cover each fraternity and sorority within the
council.

Risser said both options have pros and cons. While insuring each individual
chapter would be more expensive, insuring the council as a collective unit
would also mean sharing liability. That means that if one fraternity's
event had a problem, all of the multicultural fraternities and sororities
would be held responsible.

"It's a tough decision of high cost or high risk," Risser said.

Gomez said he is impressed by the initiative Cal Poly is taking on the issue.

"Both Joseph Risser and [Director of Student Life] Ken Barclay are really
pulling for us and trying to iron things out," Gomez said.

The future of the Cal Poly Multicultural Greek System is still unclear.

Some say they are confident a solution will be reached.

"This issue is a high priority to us," Barclay said. "I don't see the
multicultural greek system coming to an end. We are going to pursue every
avenue possible."

(C) 2002 Mustang Daily

The fact that these are multi-cultural groups has little or no bearing here. This could happen to any chapter. The same dynamic is involved for the chapters insured by Kirklin -- that is that any infraction by any of the individual Nationals will affect all of the rest.

For all intents and purposes, the fraternities are self insured -- providing a pool of funds which can be very rapidly depleted with just a few claims.

Be careful, dammit!

Our chapters must be incorporated
 

Back in the late '60s, TKE required every chapter to get incorporated thru their alumni Board of Control., and I assume most other GLOs have done something similar.

There's a case going on in Atlanta where an unincorporated summer swim league for kids was threatened with a lawsuit by the parents of a kid with one leg who wanted to wear a special leg fin. The officers/directors were threatened with individual lawsuits, since the league had no legal status.

Every single leader/officer resigned, rather than face a law suit. The long established league is facing dissolution, because no one wants to assume the liability.

Re: Two worrisome situations...
 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by DeltAlum
So, officers and advisors put themselves at risk when their chapters break the rules.

Yes, they actually do. Advisors (university and chapter) take on a LOT of responsibility for chapters and organizations that break the rules...granted most likely they may not be found guilty of any negligence, but would still be forced to pay to defend themselves (if they are not covered by any type of insurance). I know as a campus fraternity and sorority advisor..we've had intents to sue filed against us.

Also, a lot of organizations are moving towards insurance policies that essentially become invalid and won't cover the chapter or members if they behave in a way that breaks the policy or risk management procedures. Which means that individual members would then be held liable for any costs incurred during litigation (which really means that their parents will be paying out of their pocket...or the parent's insurance company.)

Thank you so much for this thread. I am sending it to my entire chapter. Our big problem is underage drinking at chapter social functions. We (Exec Council) practically have to beg them to follow the rules, knowing that if someone gets alcohol poisoning or leaves and dies in a car accident, it's our asses. Hopefully, this will help drive the point home a little.