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Sacramento Observer
June 9, 2003

Depositions Underway In AKA Drowning Lawsuit

By Lenea Austin | SACOBSERVER.COM WIRE SERVICES


LOS ANGELES (NNPA) - Depositions are underway in a lawsuit filed against Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority by the family of Kristin High, one of two women who drowned at a Playa Del Rey beach during alleged hazing activities last year.

Sam High and Patricia Strong-Fargas, High's parents, and her fiancée, Holman Authurs, on behalf of High's and Authurs' son, Skyler, filed an $100 million wrongful death lawsuit against the organization and the members and pledgees present when she died in September.Angela Reddock, an attorney with the firm Collins, Mesereau, Reddock and Yu, LLP., representing High's family, said potential witnesses in the case are being interviewed by attorneys for the defendants and plaintiffs.

Next month, Reddock said, she will be in Chicago taking depositions from AKA's national officers.This month, attorneys for High's family will be taking depositions from "big sisters" who were present during the alleged hazing and named in the suit.

In a legal victory for Reddock and her colleagues, attorneys for defendant Wykida Casey, who also was pledging at the time of High and Kenitha Saafir's death, lost a motion to strike her name from the case, which, according to Reddock, could mean similar demurs will be removed from the court's calendar.Attorneys for High's family will, however, have to revise some causes of action for a third amended complaint.

According to the lawsuit, High was blindfolded then driven to the beach where she was led into the ocean with her hands tied. The lawsuit calls this activity a "right of passage ritual" that was facilitated by High's "assigned … big sister," one of the sorority members. The women were students at California State University-LA.

Initially, police said there was no hazing involved, but according to the county coroner's autopsy report, released by the plaintiff's attorneys, "the manner of death could not be determined." Police are still investigating the matter.

During a press conference last September, the attorneys said, "Two women who had their futures ahead of them died needlessly at the beach. We do not want this death to be in vain."

Collins said the plaintiffs "want to send a message to fraternities and sororities around the country that pledging and hazing … must come to an end."

The national AKA has suspended all pledging at the undergraduate level until this fall.

This story comes special to the NNPA from the Los Angeles Sentinel.