Noteworthy Cases

Governor Bush Signs “Chad Meredith Act”

Chad Meredith, a freshman at the University of Miami, died in a fraternity related hazing incident on the University of Miami campus in November, 2002. David W. Bianchi from our firm represented Chad’s parents in a lawsuit against the fraternity president and former vice president who were responsible for his death. Following a $14,000,000 jury verdict for Chad’s parents, the Meredith family wanted to use their son’s death as an opportunity to stop hazing from occurring in the future. They asked our firm to do all we could to help.

Shortly after the verdict was returned, we learned that Rep. Adam Hasner (R. Delray) was working on legislation that would make hazing that results in death or serious personal injury a 3 rd degree felony punishable by up to five years in jail. Mr. Bianchi offered to help draft the law to incorporate what was learned in the Meredith trial and Rep. Hasner welcomed his assistance.

The defendants in the Meredith trial argued to the jury that they should not be found liable because:

• Chad supposedly consented to participate in the swimming event that led to his death;
• The late night swimming was not a fraternity “sponsored” event; and
• Participating in the swim was not a condition of membership in the fraternity.

Although the jury rejected each of these defenses, it was clear that those charged with violating any new anti-hazing law in the future would try to raise similar defenses. This was explained to Rep. Hasner and he agreed that these loopholes needed to be closed. As a result, the proposed legislation was amended to specifically state that none of these arguments would be a defense to a charge of violating the new law.

Rep. Hasner’s bill, which was co-sponsored by Sen. Campbell (D. Ft. Lauderdale) in the Florida Senate, was amended in committee to be called the “Chad Meredith Act” in Chad’s honor. Following passage by both the House and Senate, Governor Bush signed the bill into law on the University of Miami campus where Chad died. Chad’s parents, brother, sister, nephews, nieces and aunt traveled from Indiana to attend. The Chad Meredith law is now in effect in Florida and is one of the toughest anti-hazing laws in the country.

“Chad would be very proud of this,” said Mr. Meredith. “He was always helping people when he was alive and with this law he can help save others from having to go through the same thing. We know he is watching and this is a great way to remember him.”

Rep. Hasner and Mr. Bianchi have now begun a series of presentations to students on each of the college campuses in Florida to explain the new law and to make it clear that hazing is now a crime with serious consequences. Their first trip was to Florida Atlantic University in early October and over 250 students attended. The program was well received and hopefully it had its intended effect.

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