Elizabeth Brown v. Delta Tau Delta

2015 ME 75, 118 A.3d 789, 2015 Me. LEXIS 84
CourtSupreme Judicial Court of Maine
DecidedJune 18, 2015
DocketDocket Pen-14-139
StatusPublished
Cited by39 cases

This text of 2015 ME 75 (Elizabeth Brown v. Delta Tau Delta) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Judicial Court of Maine primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Elizabeth Brown v. Delta Tau Delta, 2015 ME 75, 118 A.3d 789, 2015 Me. LEXIS 84 (Me. 2015).

Opinions

Majority: GORMAN, JABAR, and HJELM, JJ.

Concurrence/Dissent: ALEXANDER, J.

Dissent: CLIFFORD, J.

JABAR, J.

[¶ 1] Elizabeth Brown appeals from the Superior Court’s (Penobscot County, Cud-dy, J.) entry of a summary judgment in favor of Delta Tau Delta (DTD) and Delta Tau Delta National Housing Corporation (DTDNHC) on' her claims' arising out of events that occurred at the fraternal organization’s Gamma Nu chapter1 located bn the University of Maine’s Oroho campus (UMO). Brown argues that the court erred in concluding that neither DTD nor DTDNHC owed her a duty of' care sufficient to support her negligence claims, and in dismissing her claims seeking to hold DTD and DTDNHC vicariously liable. Because we conclude that DTD owed a duty to its collegiate chapters’ social invitees sufficient to support Brown’s claim based- on premises liability, we vacate that portion of the Nummary judgment. We affirm the summary judgment on the remaining claims against DTD. We also affirm and do not further discuss the summary judgment as to DTDNHC because there is nothing in the record suggesting that the property-holding corporation had a duty, based on premises liability or otherwise, to Gamma Nu’s social invitees.

I. BACKGROUND

[¶ 2] Viewed in the light most favorable to Brown, as the nonmoving party, the summary judgment record establishes the following facts. See Budge v. Town of Millinocket, 2012 ME 122, ¶ 12, 55 A.3d 484.

[¶ 3] On September 17, 2010, Gamma Nu hosted a party at its DTD fraternity house that was restricted to invited guests only. Brown, a UMO student, was invited to'the party by Joshua Clukey, a member of Gamma Nu. Brown arrived at the fraternity house between 11:00 and 11:30 p.m. and found Clukey. Brown and Clukey, who had both been drinking alcoholic -beverages, went upstairs to Clukey’s room, past a fraternity member whose function was to limit access to the upper floors to residents and their guests. Inside his room, Clukey sexually assaulted Brown and prevented her from leaving the room for several minutes.

[¶4] The day after the party, Brown reported the incident to the fraternity president, who told her “the fraternity had been concerned about Clukey for a while” because he had developed a drinking problem and had recently caused property damage and engaged in fights with other [791]*791fraternity brothers. The fraternity president reported the incident involving Brown to the chapter consultant, who is employed by the national fraternity, DTD. The following week, the local chapter expelled Clukey from the fraternity for engaging in conduct unbecoming a member and for violating the national fraternity’s code of conduct and rules regarding alcohol and hazing. Clukey was notified of his expulsion by letter from the national fraternity.

[¶ 5] On September 11, 2012, Brown filed a civil complaint against Clukey, DTD,2 and DTDNHC.3 DTDNHC is an Indiana non-profit corporation that holds property for DTD and leases the fraternity house to Gamma Nu. DTD is a national non-profit corporation organized in New York and doing business in Indiana; Gamma Nu is its local chapter at UMO. DTD’s purpose is to advance its mission and values by providing resources to local chapters and regulating them through risk management policies, a member code of conduct, and oversight by chapter consultants and alumni advisors. DTD’s constitution and by-laws set forth an intricate hierarchy of rules and regulations “to provide for the effective organization of [fraternity] operations 'on the international, division, and chapter levels,” including member initiation regulations, implementation of national Member Responsibility Guidelines (MRGs), and enforcement mechanisms.

[¶ 6] Brown’s initial complaint alleged counts of assault and false imprisonment against Clukey, and vicarious liability against both DTD and DTDNHC. Through subsequent amendments to hen complaint, Brown added counts of negligence, premises liability, and negligent infliction of emotional distress against Clu-key, DTD, and DTDNHC, and requested recovery of punitive damages from Clukey.

[¶ 7] In October 2013, Clukey was dismissed from the case with prejudice following Brown’s settlement of her claims against him. On January 29, 2014, the court granted DTD and DTDNHC’s motion to dismiss with respect to the issue of vicarious liability and denied the motion in all other respects. After entry of this order, Brown’s remaining counts against DTD and DTDNHC alleged negligence, négligent infliction of emotional distress, and premises liability. On March 17,2014, the court granted DTD and DTDNHC’s motion for summary judgment, concluding that neither DTD nor DTDNHC owed Brown a duty of care. Brown appeals.

II. DISCUSSION

[¶ 8] Because there is nothing in the record suggesting that Clukey was acting as an agent of DTD or DTDNHC at the time of the assault, we reject. Brown’s vicarious liability claims and focus only on her claims of negligence. We review de novo the court’s entry of summary judgment in favor of DTD based upon the legal determination that ,DTD did not owe Brown a duty of care. See Estate of Cabatit v. Canders, 2014 ME 133, ¶ 8, 105 A.3d 439.

A. Duty

[¶ 9] Even though the issue is fact driven, the question of duty is a legal question decided by the court, not the jury. [792]*792See Michaud v. Great N. Nekoosa Corp., 1998 ME 213, ¶ 15, 715 A.2d 955. Because it is a mixed question of law and fact, the facts in'any given case will determine whether an entity has a duty to the putative plaintiff. See Cameron v. Pepin, 610 A.2d 279, 282 (Me.1992). This is a multi-factored analysis that necessarily evokes policy-based considerations including the just allocation of loss. See id.

[¶ 10] The undisputed facts in this case do not give rise to a duty beyond that related to Brown’s premises liability claim. Specifically, the summary judgment record reveals no “special relationship” between Brown and DTD sufficient to sustain Brown’s general negligence claim, see DeCambra v. Carson, 2008 ME 127, ¶¶ 11-12, 953 A.2d 1163 (holding that, absent a special relationship, between the parties, “there is no general obligation to protect others from the actions of third parties, even where one knows the third party is or'could be dangerous”), nor does it reveal a special relationship or facts that would give riáe to bystander liability sufficient to support Brown’s negligent infliction of emotional distress claim, see Curtis v. Porter, 2001 ME 158, ¶¶ 18-19, 784 A.2d 18 (holding-that, except in bystander liability claims or when “a special relationship exists between the actor and the person emotionally harmed,” there is “no ... general duty to avoid negligently causing emotional harm to others”). However, as our discussion will illustrate, the facts here give rise to a question of duty founded on premises liability. The issue is thus whether, based on the factual record, the national fraternity has a duty to exercise reasonable care for the safety of its local chapter’s social invitees during functions sponsored by the local chapter and held at the DTD fraternity house.

[¶ 11] We have determined that a duty founded on premises liability exists between a university and its business invitees. Stanton v. Univ. of Me.

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Bluebook (online)
2015 ME 75, 118 A.3d 789, 2015 Me. LEXIS 84, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/elizabeth-brown-v-delta-tau-delta-me-2015.