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Noteworthy CasesArticle from "The Miami Herald"Saturday, February 7th, 2004 2 Peers ordered to pay kin of pledge A civil jury finds two UM fraternity brothers liable for the death of a pledge who drowned while trying to swim across a lake. They must pay the teen's parents $12.6 million. By Lisa Arthur A civil jury on Friday ordered two fraternity brothers to pay $12.6 million to the parents of an 18-year-old pledge they watched drown in a University of Miami lake during rush week more than two years ago. Chad Meredith, a freshman from Indiana, tried to swim across Lake Osceola with Kappa Sigma fraternity president Travis Montgomery and David May, a fraternity officer. The three had been drinking before they stripped to their boxer shorts and entered the chilly waters before dawn on Nov. 5, 2001. Police concluded that Meredith's death wasn't an instance of hazing. May and Montgomery testified that the swim wasn't a planned fraternity event and that Meredith wasn't pressured into joining them. But after a week-long trial and three hours of deliberation, a Miami-Dade jury decided Montgomery and May were acting as fraternity members when they pressured Meredith, exposed him to danger and then abandoned him as he flailed in the wind-whipped water and screamed for help. As Circuit Judge Ronald Friedman read the verdict, Montgomery bent his head to his knees. After the judge left the courtroom, Montgomery stood and lunged at David Bianchi, the attorney representing Meredith's parents. Defense attorneys and a bailiff restrained Montgomery. Meredith's parents hugged and cried after hearing the verdict. "There were no jumps for joy or elation; there was some relief," Bianchi said. "These parents are devastated that they lost their youngest son." The Merediths have a twin son and daughter born seven years before Chad Meredith. Defense attorneys argued that Meredith -- who had a blood alcohol level of 0.13 and was legally drunk when he drowned -- was responsible for his own actions. "This was a case unprecedented in Florida," defense attorney Donald Hardemon, who represented Montgomery, told The Associated Press. "There is no law in Florida making fraternities liable in hazing cases." The defendants said they would appeal. Bianchi said he would try to collect the money for the Meredith family by tapping a $20 million insurance policy held by the Virginia-based national headquarters of Kappa Sigma. The homeowners policies of the parents of the two fraternity brothers also could be tapped. Montgomery's parents have a policy with a $300,000 cap, and May's family policy has a $500,000 cap, Bianchi said. "This was never about the money," Bianchi said. "Chad's parents wanted a jury to hear the facts, wanted the people who were there that night to testify under oath. They wanted to learn the truth about their son's death. "Chad shouldn't have died. They abandoned him instead of trying to help him. He tried to save himself and got within 34 feet of the shore. He drowned in six feet nine inches of water."
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