FL A&M Band hazee gets $1.8 mil

[hoosier]

Thu, Nov. 04, 2004

Hazing victim awarded $1.8M

Ex-FAMU band member beaten severely in 2001
By James L. Rosica
DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER


The victim of a 2001 hazing at the hands of Florida A&M University Marching 100 band members this week won a $1.8 million verdict in his civil battery case.

Marcus Parker, 21, sued five of those charged with beating him so severely with a paddling board during a band initiation that he suffered kidney failure.

After a two-day civil trial, jurors late Monday found Eric Biggins, David Benoit, Anthony Gamble, Sean McGriff and Jimmy Simmons liable for damages. Circuit Judge Jonathan Sjostrom presided.

"I feel like justice was served, and I'm just glad it's over," said Parker, who lives in Jacksonville. Regarding the men who beat him, "I'm not going to hold (a grudge) against them," he said.

This was the first case in which a FAMU hazing victim went after the individuals charged in the act, said Tallahassee attorney David Frank, who represented Parker.

The five men defended themselves, but none showed up for trial. Simmons did not return a call; the others declined comment or could not be reached.

His client has endured four surgeries so far, and now suffers chronic kidney damage, Frank said. Parker likely will require a kidney transplant.

"This is the first time I saw him smile," Frank said. "We hope this will put an end to this kind of conduct."

Frank, who waived his attorney's fee in the case, said a separate attorney will collect the award by garnishing the defendants' wages and going after any assets they have.

"He'll get paid, just not all at once," Frank said.

A forensic nursing expert testified on Parker's operations and prognosis and a rehabilitation expert told jurors about his likely loss of future earnings, according to Frank.

Parker had settled with FAMU last October for a confidential amount, records show.

In 2001, then-freshman Parker, a trumpet player from Jacksonville, had to check into a hospital with kidney failure. Eleven arrests followed.

Hazing complaints have plagued the band since the 1950s. Band members caught hazing used to be suspended from the band. Now, they are barred from ever returning, band director Julian White has said.

A 1990 Florida law prohibits hazing and requires universities to enforce it and assess penalties.

In February, FAMU's board of trustees agreed to pay another former Marching 100 clarinet player $50,000 after a 1998 hazing.

Ivery Luckey, a former FAMU business student and band member from Ocala, said he was paddled at least 300 times, leaving him hospitalized and permanently injured.

More recently, Robert Alex Burse, a 22-year-old senior, was charged in a Sept. 24 incident involving three freshman saxophone players. He's charged with paddling the bandmates 27 times each on the buttocks with a wooden paddle at his apartment.