[Kevin]

Originally Posted by Alphagamuga

The reported info. in this case makes the group look pretty bad. Letting a guy die of alcohol poisoning isn't brotherly or moral. Period.

I'm pretty sure no one "let" anyone die. It was a negligent act. To say they "let" it happen makes it sound like they were reckless with regard to the kid's life. That may well be the case, but based on the facts presented in the news article, I'd say there's a definite factual issue there.

Generally, however, I think there ought to be a pretty tight limit on how legally responsible we are for other people.

That gets to be tough. From the organization's perspective, yeah, we'd love this to happen. On the other hand, if nothing else is going to get the attention of our respective organizations, it'll be huge cash awards to plaintiffs and increased insurance costs. You're already seeing this. There are several examples of chapters being completely shut down just because they violate some hazing protocol whether there's a danger or not. These aren't small chapters either. Sigma Nu, for example recently shut down its MTSU chapter -- easily one of our top 10-15 chapters due to hazing. A few years earlier, it was Vanderbilt. Before that, Arkansas. Not even our old, respected southern chapters are immune where before the age of sky-high insurance, hazing was treated with a nod and a wink.

So these settlements hopefully force us to be safer, or they force the closure of organizations which refuse to hold their members accountable. I'm not so sure that's a bad thing.

Further (and I know, I'm getting political here), by setting caps on damage awards as you seem to be suggesting, you are harming parties injured by the negligence of others to protect the people causing the harm. That just ain't right. As for LaneSig, eliminating J&S liability does the same thing. It makes sure that organizations which cause harm to people and the people causing the harm have less liability. How about we just stop doing things which kill people? Is that so hard?

Yes, we all feel pressured to conform and do what others expect of us when we want to be members of a group. And yes, in the spirit of brotherhood or sisterhood, we ought to take good care of each other.

But, when adults willfully undertake activities that they know contain risks and are injured as a result, then I think the adults alone should be legally responsible.

Assumption of risk does not apply to crimes in most cases. Hazing is a crime, serving alcohol to minors is a crime. I'd say this young man would be in the class of persons which those laws are made to protect from harm. The term is negligence per se. At first glance, this definitely looks like a case of negligence per se.

It could probably be shown that in providing alcohol for an organizational function, the officers in charge were in fact agents of the organization. That's just one way I think you could get to the chapter.

In almost all of the college hazing cases, though, you have people of legal age to buy and consume alcohol providing it to people not of age, and that illegal act maybe should make them legally responsible for the outcome.

Jointly responsible. That means that the plaintiff sues anyone who could be at fault, gets his money from whoever is insured. Then, the insurance company turns around and gets contributions from the other co-defendants for whatever their liability is.

The theory is that the law's goal should be to make the plaintiff whole for the wrong to them. Let the negligent actors sort out the mess later.

It's a really tough situation, and it's always tragic when a kid dies. But moms need to remember that their kids have free will. Sometimes they are mainly victims of their own bad judgment. The outcomes are sometimes tragic but it shouldn't mean someone else was more responsible for the outcome.

While the victim may have been partially at fault here (and that could maybe be a defense), the organization and its officers certainly played a role. They are anything but innocent third parties (from what I've read).