Local sorority, Plym State U, sued by parents of victim

[hoosier]

Family sues PSU, students
By J.M. HIRSCH
The Associated Press

CONCORD — The family of a Plymouth State University student killed during a suspected hazing incident last year is suing the school and members of a sorority, accusing them of negligence in the woman’s death.

Dan Duckett, lawyer for the family of Kelly Nester, said his clients are frustrated by the lack of criminal charges filed in the case, and with the level of cooperation with authorities by the women who were with Nester the night she died.

“They don’t believe the truth has come out,” Duckett said yesterday. “They’re unsatisfied with the information provided by the driver and the (sorority) sisters. The police can only do so much and they’re relying on these witnesses.”

Nester, 20, of Coventry, R.I., died Oct. 20 while pledging the Sigma Kappa Omega sorority. She and nine other women, some blindfolded, were riding in a vehicle that went off the road and flipped. Nester was thrown from the vehicle.

Although authorities investigated the crash as a possible hazing, no charges have been filed. In May, Grafton County Attorney Rick St. Hilaire complained that the women involved were not cooperating.

Police have said that just before the crash, the driver of the vehicle, Nicole Dalton of Rochester, may have been driving erratically, rocking the car back and forth and jamming the brakes.

“I have not seen the lawsuit, but I can tell you that the investigations that have been done have all determined that Nicole Dalton did not engage in any hazing or reckless operation of the motor vehicle,” Dalton’s lawyer, Gerard Boyle, said yesterday. He has said his client was taking the group to buy snacks when she lost control of the vehicle on wet leaves.

The Nester family’s lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Grafton County Superior Court, accuses the school, Dalton and three other sorority sisters of failing to ensure the safety of Nester and other pledges.

The lawsuit accuses the school of failing to control the sorority, saying it knew the sorority hazed potential members, but ignored it. Schools officials had not seen the lawsuit yesterday afternoon and would not comment.

The sorority sisters, who also include Olivia Lucca of Mount Vernon, Maine; Heather Haigh of Ridgefield, Conn., and Nicole Little of Londonderry, are accused of coercing the pledges into “illegal pledging activities,” and of failing to ensure their safety by blindfolding them and forcing them into the back of the vehicle.

No telephone listings for Lucca, Haigh and Little could be found. Lawyers for the women either did not return calls seeking comment or had not seen the lawsuit and would not comment.

The lawsuit also accuses Dalton’s parents, James and Peggy Dalton, of negligence for allowing their daughter to use their vehicle even though she had a record of speeding tickets and one accident.

No telephone listing was available for the Daltons.

Hazing is illegal in New Hampshire, punishable by a maximum fine of $1,000.