A San Luis Obispo judge delayed setting a date for the civil trial brought by the parents of Carson Starkey.
The wrongful death suit was filed against nine former members of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, the national Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity and the Sigma Alpha Epsilon chapter at Cal Poly. Four of the former members are also currently being criminally tried.
The decision to set a trial date will be pushed back to March 18 after Douglas Fierberg, the lawyer for Julia and Scott Starkey, submits a case management proposal. The proposal is being required by judge Charles Crandall, after several of the defense lawyers raised questions about the conflict with the criminal proceedings, which are underway against four of the defendants in the civil trial.
Normally in a civil trial, defendants are compelled to testify about the events relevant to the case, but because of the two trial’s defendant conflicts regarding Starkey’s death, they may plead their fifth amendment rights in the civil case.
In court, Fierberg said that he thinks there is enough other evidence in the case to keep going with the civil suit. If judge Crandall does not agree with Fierberg after the case management report is submitted, Fierberg could delay the civil trial up to four years.
“We will not stop until everyone who was responsible for Carson’s death is held responsible,” Fierberg said.
The civil complaint filed by the Starkeys claims the defendants should have known that fraternity traditions like the “brown bag night” have a long-documented risk of death and serious injury.
“(The) defendants deliberately/purposefully took no reasonable, effective measures to enforce risk management policies to stop long-standing and dangerous pledging traditions … conscious of the dangers posed to pledges like Carson,” the complaint read.
Carson Starkey died on Dec. 2, 2008 after allegedly attending a fraternity event the night before. It was alleged fraternity members forced him to drink a large amount of alcohol. Starkey died from respiratory arrest due to acute ethanol toxicity or alcohol poisoning. Starkey’s blood alcohol concentration was between 0.39 and 0.45.
The case was filed on Sep. 22, 2009 to coincide with the beginning of the school year, said Ivo Labar, another lawyer representing the Starkeys.
The amount of money the Starkeys are suing for will be determined later.
The Starkey family has started a non-profit organization called With Carson, which aims to educate students about alcohol. A bill was also passed in Texas, Starkey’s home state, called the Carson Starkey Alcohol Awareness and Education Act.
“We will continue to honor Carson by doing everything we can to end wide-spread misconduct by fraternities,” Scott Starkey said in a press release last fall. “By bringing this lawsuit, we hope to bring attention to the dangers of hazing, cause fundamental change in fraternities and prevent other families from suffering as we have.”