Interesting Lawsuit

[Virtual Violet]

This is an excerpt from an e-mail I received.

Might this cut down on some of the madness if this lawsuit is successful? This has the potential to set an important precedent for all future GLO-related litigation. Read on and weigh in!


Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Incorporated is involved in a lawsuit and, on a normal day, that is not big news. What distinguishes this case from others is the Fraternity is suing renegades and non-members who have engaged in illegal and or inappropriate activity in the Fraternity's name.

On October 13, 2001, the Fraternity filed a complaint styled Kappa Alpha Psi, et al, v. Robert Jenkins, et al. in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia against 21 defendants, who are undergraduate and alumni members, as well as those who purport to have membership in the organization, but were not officially initiated. Some of the defendant members are doctors, lawyers, and other professionals who stand to lose a great deal if the suit is successful.

The complaint sues for breach of contract, slander, and infringement of the fraternal name and identity. The suit seeks $20 million in compensatory damages, $11 million in punitive damages, attorneys fees, costs of litigation, and injunctive relief to restrain the defendants from any illegal use of the fraternity name, rituals, paraphernalia, or gestures. The activity in question, a "coming out show," occurred on or about April 28, 2001 at Emery Park in Washington, D.C. and was part of another non-sanctioned event called "Kappa Cool Out." In fact, Anthony Hill, Eastern Province Polemarch, had specifically banned the event before it occurred and published the prohibition in the local campus newspaper.

During the event, participants, including all defendants engaged in loud, boisterous, lewd, and lascivious behavior and used language totally inappropriate for the setting. The event took place just across the street from Berean Baptist Church, which had a program going at the same time. The congregation at Berean clearly got the impression that Kappa men are
undignified, uncouth, and not the men of strong caliber, honor, integrity, and achievement.

Additionally, several of the participants claimed to have Kappa membership when they knew, or should have known, they were not properly initiated in the Fraternity.

The complaint is simple and claims the members breached their promise to the Fraternity to uphold the principles and purpose of Phi Nu Pi when they engaged in such unworthy conduct and shared our rituals and signs with non-members. The second count in the complaint states the members and non members slandered the organization by giving neighborhood residents in general, and the Berean congregation specifically, a false negative impression about the fraternity. The third count alleges the non-members misappropriated and infringed the Fraternity's name.

All should take note that the Fraternity has heeded the advice many have given us for years--that is, sue the perpetrators and prosecute to the fullest extent of the law. The possible repercussions for the defendants are compelling and daunting when viewed from their perspective. Even if the court allows minimal damages of just one dollar, it can still award punitive
damages in the millions of dollars and the Fraternity can execute on that judgment by selling property owned by the defendants and/or garnishing their wages for a very long time. Additionally, punitive damages are generally not dischargeable in bankruptcy so this debt to the organization would likely linger for the life of all twenty-one defendants. One can't even imagine what the defendant's will have to pay in legal fees and costs to defend this action in addition to having to pay the Fraternity's litigation costs and fees.

It is a new day in the Fraternity's fight against hazing and illegal
conduct and there is a new marshal in town. His name is Litigation.

by Reuben Shelton, Kappa Alpha Psi