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Noteworthy CasesJury awards $12.6M in Miami drowning2/6/2004 MIAMI -- A jury on Friday found two fraternity members liable for $12.6 million in damages for the hazing death of a university student who drowned in a campus lake. Chad Meredith, 18, of Indianapolis, drowned Nov. 5, 2001, at the University of Miami. Tests showed he was drunk at the time. The jury ordered Kappa Sigma President Travis Montgomery and another fraternity officer, David May, to pay Meredith's parents $6.3 million each. The parents' attorneys said they would try to tap the fraternity's insurance to collect the money. "This was a needless death in a fraternity hazing event," said David Bianchi, the parents' attorney. "He was screaming for help, and they swam away from him. He tried desperately to save himself, he got within 34 feet of the shore, and he drowned in 6 feet 9 inches of water." Bianchi had asked the jury to issue a $10 million award. After three hours, the six-member panel returned a $14 million award. Meredith was found 10 percent responsible, reducing the amount the fraternity members were ordered to pay to $12.6 million. The defendants said they would appeal. "This was a case unprecedented in Florida," defense attorney Donald Hardemon said. "There is no law in Florida making fraternities liable in hazing cases." As a judge read the verdict, Montgomery shook his head and bent his head to his knees. After the judge left the courtroom, Montgomery lunged toward the plaintiff's table and had to be restrained by his lawyer and a bailiff. Criminal charges were never filed because police ruled that Meredith's death was accident.
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