SAE is "sorry" for damage
 

une 19, 2004 9:23 AM PDT
Couple sues frat for damage to rental property

BEND (AP) - A Portland couple filed a $500,000 lawsuit against the University of Oregon chapter of a fraternity, claiming drunken students damaged their rental property in Sunriver.
The suit, filed last week in a Deschutes County court, contends that fraternity members from the Sigma Alpha Epsilon chapter built a bonfire in the backyard, drove vehicles across the property, engaged in public drunkenness, nudity and urination, cut down trees and damaged the interior of the house.

Lester and Nora Brock are suing for negligence, fraud, timber trespass and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Kent Williams, a Sigma Alpha Epsilon adviser, said the fraternity was sorry about the party, which took place on a weekend in November 2003.
"Too often people are iconoclastic and go after whole institutions because of the mistake of a few individuals, and I think it's really bad," he said.
The university put the fraternity on probation for damage to the rental house. Sigma Alpha Epsilon was required to perform 150 hours of community service in Bend, as well as write letters of apology and pay for carpet cleaning and damage to a footbridge.
According to the lawsuit, Cameron Crockett, the University of Oregon student who rented the house, told the Brocks the house would be used by two couples and possibly some children.
On Nov. 7, the fraternity published on its Web site, "Next Friday is our annual trip to Sunriver. Ladies, if you lack a date, feel free to contact one of the fine gentlemen listed in the membership section."
On Nov. 18, according to the lawsuit, the fraternity published on its official Web site, "Last weekend was the Sunriver trip ... all I can say is it was OFF THE HOOK!"

OOPS, what a foopah!

Guess that they can prove Libel for damages!

:rolleyes:

I just love Iconoclastic by the advisor. A moron at its best.

Hell, 1/2 Million Dollars, now, there may be a problem there.

In the eyes of the beholder is like a mans penis, while it seems small at the time, it do get bigger.

This is what it sounds like.:mad:

Since when did this palacial estate become worth that?:eek:

Geeze.. I coudn't even imagine anything like that happening. These sound like a bunch of spoiled rich kids that have never had to deal with the consequences of their actions.

I'd be happy to hear that some of them end up doing hard time for this BS.

I just want to know why they had to include that part about their website at the end. Very sensationalistic...

so what'd they do just thrasha house they had rented?

doubtful that they did 500k worth of damage if it was one party..

maybe i misread..

I think it's pretty valid. It shows complete and total disregard for the peoples' house that they just trashed. I know if it were my house and I was checking out these idiots' website, I would certainly have noticed that.

Good to know their last party was "Off the hook".

Or at least I hope it's their last party. That kind of BS is indefensible.

Re: SAE is "sorry" for damage
 

I don't doubt the house was trashed but I doubt it was 500k worth. My chapter could do that much damage but we are the exception. Look at the damages listed. Timber trespass? Public drunkenness, nudity? Where is the damage?

Since this is actually my alma mater, I'm fairly familiar with the whole story.

The owner of the house has said that damage included two cut-down trees, a destroyed footbridge, ruined carpeting, extensive smoke damage from an outside bonfire and water damage from a broken water pipe.

They absolutely did not do $500,000 worth of damage to the house. In several earlier stories about the incident, the owner has said damage totaled about $20,000.

I'm not trying to defend what the guys did, but I do want to say that from what I've read and heard, the property owner has been rather shady in this whole debacle. His statements have changed several times, he refused to provide the fraternity or the university with a detailed list of damages and now he's suing for 25 times the actual damages even though the members paid to repair the carpets and the footbridge.

Re: SAE is "sorry" for damage
 

There's the other $480,000. They must be pretty distressed.

I guess dirt and Wood/Brick are worth more in the eye of the Leasor.:confused:

I am sure that an appraiser was called in but nothing mentioned of that. Should have been for insurance and Criminal proceedings to asses the damage.

That is why, I questioned the damages so sought by them.:)

If this is so, there is something about filing a false police report to try and gain monetary value on said violation.

The sad part, is that it happened at all. Maybe that is why they are no longer on campus because of previous violations.:rolleyes:

The number as far as punative damages is generally just a starting point in the negotiations. On the left coast, sometimes it is the start AND finishing point though. If I were a national officer of SAE, I'd be looking hard at why I hadn't pulled these fellas charter yet.

Its lawsuits like this that cause insurance rates for greek organizations to sky rocket. What emotional distress does a property manager incur from a damaged property. Unfortunately, as a property manager your job is to deal with issues and damage as they arise. If you are emotionally distressed by these types of situations, pick up a career in basket weaving.

There's no question that the fraternity should have to pay for the damage. But $500,000? Id guess that $500,000 is worth at least twice as much as the property was ever valued at.

Intentional infliction of emotional distress is different than just "emotional distress." It isn't meant to compensate people for feeling bad. It is meant to compensate and to punish someone for their intentional "extreme and outrageous" conduct. I think the property owners are refering to the urinating on the property, nudity, and other inappropriate conduct. According to the courts, the conduct has to rise to the level of being beyond that of any civilized society. Personally, I don't think this conduct is severe enough but a jury might. At the very least, these SAE's have really bad manners.
Also, the request for damages shouldn't be taken seriously. Many states have laws which say that you can't recover more than you ask for. This encourages lawyers to ask for way more than they every intend to get. In fact, technically it is considered malpractice not to ask for an overly large amount. As a lawyer, if you ask for less than the jury comes back with and your client can't get the whole award because you asked for too little, you are liable for the difference.
I'm not meaning to give a lesson on law or anything but the newspapers tend to sensationalize these suits and it makes the claims seem totally frivolous when they're not.

Actually, considering the value of property in Sunriver, the amount sounds reasonable.

...we're still here pal...

I don't understand the generalizations. I'm an SAE and I don't agree with the decisions that these few individuals made, but they have been dealt with according to the circumstances. I wouldn't go around bashing other people's organizations... let alone any greek organization, it doesn't reflect on yours very well.