Frats Worse Than Animal House Fail to Pay for Casualties

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-28/frats-worse-than-animal-house-fail-to-pay-for-casualties.html

Old photographs adorn the mantelpiece in Lee John Mynhardt’s living room. In one, he’s standing beside his parents and sister. In another, he’s all smiles as he wraps his arms around some college buddies.

Today, Mynhardt, 28, is confined to a wheelchair, a quadriplegic unable to move from the chest down, burdened with medical expenses that at times have topped $10,000 a month. As a senior at Elon University in Elon, North Carolina, he broke his neck when he was grabbed from behind and dragged out of a keg party held by a chapter of one of the largest national fraternities, Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity Inc.

Mynhardt says he is a casualty of the strenuous efforts by national fraternities such as Lambda Chi to avoid paying compensation for deaths and injuries at their local chapters. After he sued, Lambda Chi Alpha and its insurer won court rulings that they weren’t liable for his plight.

“As soon as there’s an incident, national fraternities start distancing themselves,” Mynhardt said at his Charlotte, North Carolina, home. “It’s irresponsible.”


Family Photo via Bloomberg
This recent family photo shows Lee John Mynhardt with his mother Charmaine. Mynhardt says he is a casualty of the strenuous efforts by national fraternities to avoid paying compensation for deaths and injuries at their local chapters.