BOULDER – A March 10, 2008 date has been set for the trial of the civil lawsuit brought by Leslie Lanahan, the mother of Gordie Bailey.
Bailey died from acute alcohol poisoning after a fraternity initiation in September 2004. Lanahan filed the suit last year against Chi Psi Fraternity and seven members of the fraternity.
Jim Goldfarb, the attorney for the fraternity, declined comment Monday as did several lawyers representing the fraternity brothers. Lanahan claims the fraternity exhibited negligence and “reckless misconduct.” The fraternity brothers are also accused of negligence.
The lawsuit alleges that Gordie and his fellow Chi Psi pledges were blindfolded and driven to a remote mountain area where they were hazed and forced to drink “dangerous quantities of alcohol.”
After Gordie passed out, the lawsuit alleges that some of the fraternity brothers drew vulgar pictures and messages on Gordie’s body.
The suit also claims it was 10 hours after Gordie was believed to be in need of medical help that emergency personnel were called to the fraternity house.
Bailey was pronounced dead eight minutes after the call was made, the lawsuit said. One fraternity brother claimed that Colorado’s Dram Shop Law prevented Lanahan from filing suit.
The law says that “no social host who furnishes any alcohol beverage is civilly liable to any injured individual or his or her estate…due to the consumption of alcohol.”
But Boulder District Judge Carol Glowinsky has ruled that the lawsuit can proceed because the Dram Shop Law doesn’t apply to many of Lanahan’s allegations.
“The allegations here are that the deceased (Bailey) was blindfolded, taken into the woods, illegally hazed, and abandoned to die,” wrote the judge. “There is nothing in the allegations relating to entertainment, pleasant companionship, or hospitality. Therefore, assuming the allegations in the complaint to be true, the defendant was not a social host.”
Staff writer Howard Pankratz can be reached at 303-954-1939 or
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