Indiana student trial challenges fraternity over hazing incident

A report by the IndyStar said that an ex-Wabash College student is prepped to challenge a school fraternity regarding its civil liability. Brian Yost lodged a case against the school chapter of Phi Kappa Psi-Indiana Gamma in 2009. Yost reportedly did not name his former school nor the fraternity's national parent, Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity Inc.

The strength of Yost's case relies on Phi Psi's duty to ensure his safety, especially against violence in the fraternity, the local online paper said. It has been noted that there were a string of cases involving hazing and alcohol-related problems at the Crawfordsville-based private school. Moreover, more than 6 incidents related to hazing since 2000 has been filed against the school's fraternities, which included the deaths of two minors due to alcohol.

Yost's decision to sue sprang from a series of events involving certain traditions of the fraternity, IndyStar said. Yost, who was then a pledge at the time, indulged in a ritual that involved throwing a fraternity brother into a nearby creek. After Yost and his group's second effort had failed, court records revealed that a hall brawl erupted. In what it seemed to have been a retaliation effort, Yost was carried by four members of Phi Psi for a "showering," but resulted to a choke hold done on him by one of the members. Yost was dropped, which caused his head to bang hard against the bathroom floor, the online paper said. Yost reportedly filed his lawsuit two years after the event happened.

Justice Robert Rucker of the Indiana Supreme Court issued a ruling that Yost could move forward with his claim against the fraternity over serious physical injuries he obtained during a night of horseplay that could have ventured into hazing, said IndyStar. Rocker also said that Yost could seek legal option against his former school.

Yost appealed his case up with the Supreme Court as Wabash and the fraternity groups won a dismissal courtesy of Montgomery Superior Court Judge David A. Ault in December 2011 and seconded by the Indiana Court of Appeals in 2012.

When IndyStar contacted the fraternities named initially in Yost's lawsuit, they declined to comment. Wabash College's lawyer Tom Schultz said about the recent Supreme Court ruling, "We're happy and satisfied with the court's ruling. Interestingly, the court basically ­applied landlord-tenant law to this case and found Wabash didn't have a duty to protect (Yost)."

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Wabash College, Phi Kappa Psi fraternity

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