Hotel Plans to Sue Pi Kappa Alpha (Colorado State)

[JonInKC]

$20,000? Did someone drive their Ford Exploder through a wall or what? It seems like it'd take some effort to do that much damage.

[jmagnus]

Irvin claims the group broke lamps in rooms, damaged cars in the parking lots, vomited in the lobby and broke beer bottles in the common areas, among other things.

"The vicious and malicious thing was they slashed panels in elevators and then they wrote obscenities across the panels," Irvin said. "That alone was about $7,000 in damage."


Car damage can also get REALLY expensive...

[cheerfulgreek]

WOW! The greek stereotype continues.

[Low C Sharp]

it seems that because of the non renewal of his contract he could be losing that much money?

Consequential damages. I have no idea whether this particular claim has merit or not, but the theory is sound. If, by damaging property, you damage the owner's business reputation, that can be quite costly.
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[ThetaPrincess24]

I'm wondering why this chapter has not lost it's charter from their international office? If this behavior is what got them unaffiliated status from CSU and it's obviously continuing to the present I dont understand why they havent been shut down. Not only have they caused bad publicity to themselves and their HQ but now they may cost their HQ a lot of money.

[Tom Earp]

Hey, they scewed up, they pay for it as well they should!

It was ignorant and totaly stupid!

Burn them, put them in jail, fine them and get rid of them!

Enough is enough!

[exlurker]

Originally Posted by ThetaPrincess24

I'm wondering why this chapter has not lost it's charter from their international office? If this behavior is what got them unaffiliated status from CSU and it's obviously continuing to the present I dont understand why they havent been shut down. Not only have they caused bad publicity to themselves and their HQ but now they may cost their HQ a lot of money.

Hi ThetaPrincess24: as to potentially costing "their HQ a lot of money," a Pike HQ spokesperson is quoted in an article indicating that Pike HQ apparently doesn't intend to pay anything:

"The international fraternity does not take responsibility for the unauthorized acts of individuals who may have participated in alleged activities which are in violation of our standards," Justin Buck, executive director of the Pi Kappa Alpha International Fraternity, wrote . . . .

http://www.coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs....TOMERSERVICE02

The article also addresses the charter question. Evidently others are wondering about that too.

[Thetagirl218]

Originally Posted by ThetaPrincess24

I'm wondering why this chapter has not lost it's charter from their international office? If this behavior is what got them unaffiliated status from CSU and it's obviously continuing to the present I dont understand why they havent been shut down. Not only have they caused bad publicity to themselves and their HQ but now they may cost their HQ a lot of money.

I was thinking the exact same thing! You would think if they were no longer recognized by the University than there must have been at least one incident. I would think that if the incident was severe enough to be kicked off campus than than they HQ would react the same way...

[DeltAlum]

Seems to me that a jury might assume that by not pulling the chapters charter, the national organization has some liability.

Don't know about the legality.

I can't imagine why they didn't.

[EE-BO]

They definitely owe for actual damages and I agree what was done was completely inexcusable.

That said, the hotel manager does not seem all that ethical to me either.

It does not make sense that he would lose his contract on the property over property condition just because of this one incident. If the owners were really interested in extending his lease, one would have to presume that they- like any good business person- would not let an isolated incident like this ruin the deal.

There is more than meets the eye here- whether the property had other serious issues or the owners had other reasons for wanting to terminate the contract.

[cuteASAbug]

Originally Posted by EE-BO

It does not make sense that he would lose his contract on the property over property condition just because of this one incident. If the owners were really interested in extending his lease, one would have to presume that they- like any good business person- would not let an isolated incident like this ruin the deal.

There is more than meets the eye here- whether the property had other serious issues or the owners had other reasons for wanting to terminate the contract.

Just like we have insurance for Risk Management purposes, any business needs to have insurance for its own Risk Management purposes. This may have been a one-time incident, but that incident can have a ripple effect. Any guests, especially families with small children staying at the hotel, would have likely complained about the noise and condition, the same goes for any guests whose cars got damaged. Even if Pike pays to have that fixed, the guests will want some kind of restitution and the hotel will be forced to pay them so as not to lose more customers. If damages were extensive and will take a while to repair, this could deter even more guests from staying there, resulting in a loss of business. Just like a chapter that perpetually hazes and has alcohol violations is a liability for us, a hotel that is unable to attract guests and therefore cover its expenses is a liability in the business world and I can see why its contract would not be renewed. So yes, $4.5 million is not a far-fetched figure.

[EE-BO]

Ok, that does make sense- but I really don't think it fully explains why the hotel is losing its lease. Sure the one incident can have a terrible long term effect- but if the owners of the land wanted to keep that relationship- no reasonable person would have refused a renewal. And if the owner was being unreasonable, that would not be a liability passed to Pike necessarily.

My other counter argument to yours would be that if the damage was that bad and people were complaining- these guys should have been thrown out within a couple of hours of checking in before things reached a critical level.

This of course assumes that this damage took place over several hours or overnight- I am not sure- and that much of it could have been mitigated if faster action had been taken.

Given the noise levels and vandalism reported in the article, management must have started getting calls within minutes of all this getting underway.

[Low C Sharp]

I really don't think it fully explains why the hotel is losing its lease

Ultimately, the hotel would have to convince a judge or jury of the entire story, step by step, in order to collect the full amount they seek. Any damages they claim would have to be verified with records, expert opinion about the value of the reputation, etc. Realistically, cases like this usually settle, so an award of $4m+ is unlikely, but who knows what data they may have documenting the loss?
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