Bowling Green State University has requested a lawsuit, which was filed by the family of Stone Foltz over his 2020 hazing death, be dismissed.
The estate filed a complaint against BGSU in June in the sophomore’s off-campus hazing death at a party where he drank a bottle of alcohol.
Shari and Cory Foltz are seeking $25,000 on two claims and “substantially more at trial to reflect the value of the loss of this young life,” according to the complaint, which has been filed in the Ohio Court of Claims.
The university has not offered an official statement on the court proceedings, said Michael Bratton, with the BGSU Office of Marketing & Brand Strategy, in an email Wednesday.
He referred to the document filed by the Office of the Attorney General of Ohio on behalf of the university.
In a response filed earlier this week, the university asked the court to deny and dismiss each of the plaintiff’s claims, enter judgment in favor of the university and grant the university all such relief the court deems just and appropriate.
The university has denied each allegation cited by the Foltz family.
“The university cannot be liable for negligence based on Mr. Foltz’s failure to use due care for his own safety, which exceeded any possible negligence of the university,” BGSU said in its rebuttal.
The Foltz lawsuit accuses BGSU of being responsible for Stone’s death, citing that for years the university has turned a blind eye to hazing within its Greek organizations on campus while encouraging students to join fraternities and sororities. Foltz was a pledge for Pi Kappa Alpha, known as PIKE.
“For years, BGSU knew about PIKE’s troubled history of hazing, both locally and nationally, but did nothing about it,” the Foltz lawsuit stated. “Despite its knowledge of PIKE’s problematic and dangerous history and the exact hazing ritual that took Stone’s life, BGSU, in direct dereliction of its duties, allowed PIKE to persist on its campus. ”
In its response to this claim, BGSU states it has worked tirelessly to end hazing and instituted and actively enforced a policy against hazing.
“The university is not responsible for the off-campus, criminal actions of the now-expelled students who violated university policy, actively concealed the activity from the university and thwarted the university’s investigation,” it stated in its response.
As for accusations of acts of negligence of its employees, the university cannot be liable for negligence because PIKE’s criminal acts undermined the university’s efforts to protect all of its students and caused Foltz’s death.
The last two men charged in connection with Foltz’s hazing are due to be sentenced in Wood County Common Pleas Court next week.
