Personal Injury Law

College Campus Hazing - Missouri Personal Injury Claim against Sorority, University, and Individual Students

By Benjamin J. Sansone, Esq.

Earlier this year, my client, a young impressionable freshman at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri, sustained serious personal injuries as a result of sorority hazing. She was severely paddled as part of the initiation that resulted in menacing tissue damage on her buttock requiring several days of hospitalization and surgery, including a skin graft.

I am filing a claim and potentially a Missouri personal injury lawsuit against Lincoln University, the Tau Beta Sigma Sorority, and the individual members responsible for the brutal injuries. Two sorority members were arrested as a result of the injuries and the University is having an internal hearing on the matter.

The injuries that my client suffered definitely opens the individuals up not only to an intentional tort claim, but also a claim for punitive damages as well as potentially exposing the national sorority to a negligence and punitive damages claim. Additionally, we have reason to believe that incidents similar to this have happened in the past at Lincoln University and the University may have failed to act on past instances and failed to prevent this one.

I remember my Greek days when I was in a fraternity that had a pretty tough initiation process, but I never saw anyone get physically injured, especially not requiring medical care. Fraternity and sorority hazing are well know for humiliating or breaking down their initiates and then building them back up. Callous physical hazing was thought to be a thing of the past, however it is something that still goes on and needs to be addressed when it become public through an initiate being so injured that they have to go to the authorities.

Full post as published by Missouri Injury Law Blog on March 11, 2008 (boomark / email).