Appellate Law

CA1: Fratboys win IIED lawsuit

By S. COTUS

Fiacco v. Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity, No. 07-1695.  The plaintiff in this case worked for the University of Maine in charge of the ?Office of Community Standards.?  He was investigating this frat.  The frat decided to investigate him back, and found a bunch of embarrassing things.  The the fratboys went to work and anonymously mailed the stuff to the university administration.  (The First seems particularly keen to keep the names of the members of the frat secret.)  Applying state law on Intentional Affliction of Emotional Distress, the First says that Fiacco was a public official, and that he must show ?actual malice.?  In this case, the fratboys basically were trashing this guy with court records, so he can?t really claim that their dirt wasn?t true, so no malice attaches.

Full post as published by Appellate Law and Practice on June 13, 2008 (boomark / email).