Judge To Rule On Dismissal Of UI Negligence Case
A judge will consider whether the University of Idaho and state Board of Education should have acted as guardians when sorority pledge Rejena Coghlan of Spokane was paralyzed in a fall three years ago.
A hearing is set for next Tuesday before 2nd District Judge Ida Leggett on a request to dismiss Coghlan’s negligence lawsuit.
Coghlan sued the state, the school and four Greek organizations. Now 21, Coghlan was paralyzed from the waist down on Aug. 19, 1993, when she fell from a third-floor sorority fire escape following a night of drinking at the fraternities.
Named in the suit are the national and local chapters of Beta Theta Pi, Sigma Alpha Epsilon and Pi Kappa Alpha fraternities and Alpha Phi sorority. Linda M. Wilson and Chris Wuthrich, university employees and Greek advisers, also are listed.
The suit said Coghlan went to a “Jack Daniels Birthday” party at Sigma Alpha Epsilon and then attended the “50 Ways To Lose Your Liver” party at Beta Theta Pi fraternity.
The fraternities are accused in the suit of supplying alcohol to the under-aged freshman.
Tests showed Coghlan’s blood-alcohol level at the time of the accident was .25, according to police reports. The legal level of intoxication in Idaho is .10.
Wilson and Wuthrich were at the parties to monitor them, and the suit contends they should have known that Coghlan was drunk and taken immediate action.
Richard Greener, attorney for the board and the school, contends the custodial nature of colleges has diminished as individual rights of students have expanded.
He maintains the negligence claims are actually an attempt to resurrect the “in loco parentis” doctrine, or “in place of a parent.”
They have been rejected in the university-student context in virtually every jurisdiction where the question has been addressed, he said.
But Coghlan’s attorneys urged Leggett to keep the case alive because the state and school have not proven they had no responsibility for her well-being. They contend that Idaho courts have not examined the doctrine of in loco parentis.
, DataTimes MEMO: IDAHO HEADLINE: Judge to consider dismissing UI suit