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Ugh. This young woman's story made me physically ill. The men who did it should have to pay for their crime, of course and nothing besides life in prison with other violent criminals is the most appropriate punishment (I don't know if Kentucky has the death penalty, but if it does, that would be too humane for them).
As for the lawsuit & whether it is ridiculous or not, is a matter up for debate & probably depends on which part you consider ridiculous-is it the fact of the suit at all? Is it the relationship of the plaintiffs to the victim & the outrage at their attempts to profit off of her horrible death, when it sort of appears they were not too concerned about her during her life? Is it the scattershot selection of Defendants? In any case, assuming Kentucky's negligence laws are like the majority of states, the plaintiffs will have to prove negligence on the part of each of the defendants - using elements similar to these:
Did the defendant(s) have a duty to the victim? (if I was on the jury, I would have a difficult time finding that the fraternity had a duty to protect this woman in her dorm room...but I don't have all the facts at this point)
If so, was that duty breached? procedures may not have been followed...this could = breach
Did the victim suffer actual harm or damages? Obviously she did, but then there's the next element....
Was there an actual causal connection between the Defendant's negligent conduct and the victim's injuries?
There's more to this case than plain vanilla negligence, but that kind of helps to put things into legal terms & deciding whether there is merit to the aunt's/mother's case.... I think there may be some validity to the claim against the housing foundation if in fact their procedures (procedures may establish that there was a duty) were not followed and the plaintiffs can prove the procedures weren't followed, and a causal connection to the injury. Agency law will determine if the other individuals named can be held personally liable if in fact their actions/non-actions are determined to be a breach of duty.
It's natural for people to want someone to be held responsible for things like this, and if the students in that dorm were not reasonable protected then obviously corrective measures need to be taken. The relationship of the mother/aunt to the victim is what makes this lawsuit seem shady. I guess we will just see what happens.
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