KANSAS CITY, Mo. (Legal Newsline) - Parents who accused a Missouri university of consumer fraud for failing to provide a safe environment for their sons after the two young men committed suicide in their fraternity house have no basis to sue, an appeals court ruled.
The lawsuit stems from a string of five suicides in Kirksville, Mo. In 2016 and 2017, including two students at Truman State University, Alexander David Mullins and Joshua Michael Thomas. Both men belonged to Alpha Kappa Lambda fraternity and were found dead by hanging in the fraternity house, along with a third student identified in the lawsuit only as John Doe 1.
All five suicides were acquainted with another AKL member, Brandon Grossheim, whom parents accused of having “a known fascination with death” and giving students “step-by-step instructions” on how to kill themselves. Grossheim was never charged with a crime.
The parents of Mullins and Thomas sued the fraternity along with Truman State and its vice president of student affairs, Lou Ann Gilchrist, accusing them of consumer fraud and breach of contract in connection with the suicides. According to their lawsuit, Truman and Gilchrist “had specialized knowledge that Mullins and Thomas had extremely vulnerable mental states and suffered from depression,” and failed to protect students against Grossheim.
The trial court dismissed the claims against Truman and its vice president and the plaintiffs appealed. They argued the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act applied, since they purchased “consumer merchandise” in the form of tuition and Truman made false promises that their sons would be “stay healthy, be safe, and feel well.” Truman countered that it isn’t a “person” subject to liability and protected by sovereign immunity anyway.
The Missouri Court of Appeals, in a Sept. 21 decision, rejected every plaintiff argument. While Truman admitted it was a corporation, and thus considered a “person” under the law, it specified it was a public corporation and they aren’t subject to the MMPA, the appeals court found.
The plaintiffs also argued their breach of contract claim was based upon the Clery Act, a federal law that requires schools to notify students about crimes on and around campus. The law is enforced by the U.S. Department of Education, the appeals court found, and doesn’t provide for private lawsuits. The court also rejected an argument Gilchrist was contractually bound to follow the Clery Act and breached her duty by failing to warn Mullins and Thomas about their fraternity brother.
Finally, the court dismissed as “disingenuous” an attempt by the plaintiffs to plead around the Clery Act by failing to name it in one count against the academic vice president. That count of the lawsuit cited Truman’s webpage stating the schools Clery Act obligations.