Federal judge dismisses wrongful death lawsuit against Ohio State fraternity in student’s killing
COLUMBUS (WCMH) – For the second time in as many weeks a judge has dismissed a wrongful death lawsuit from a fatal shooting near the Ohio State university campus.
The family of Chase Meola, an Ohio State student killed outside a fraternity party in 2020, sued the national fraternity and Ohio State chapter in federal court.
Meola, 23, died in the early hours of Oct. 11, 2020, after being shot outside the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house on East 14th Avenue. Ohio State suspended the fraternity in 2018 for hazing and other violations of the student code of conduct.
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But Meola’s family claimed in a lawsuit filed at the United States District Court Southern District of Ohio that the local chapter continued to operate as a fraternity.
Similar to the wrongful death suit against the university that was dismissed in state court on March 5, a federal judge ruled on Monday to dismiss a suit on all counts against Phi Kappa Psi fraternity national chapter.
Court documents stated the fraternity is not an owner, lessee, or a person under the control of the owner of the property in question, but rather a landlord that rents individual rooms on the property to students. The judge decreed that even if Phi Kappa Psi was considered an owner, the plaintiffs must still successfully allege that it was grossly negligent in this case.
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The judge granted the defense’s motion to dismiss on all four counts of the lawsuit: Wrongful death, survival action, negligence, gross negligence and recklessness, and respondeat superior liability.
In the state-filed lawsuit a judge noted that although Ohio State may have been liable if Meola’s death occurred on campus, the off-campus, unsanctioned fraternity house was beyond the jurisdiction or purview of the university.
Within hours of Meola’s death, Columbus police arrested 18-year-old Kintie Mitchell Jr. After pleading not guilty, he changed his plea to guilty on two murder charges and one charge of having a weapon under disability. Mitchell Jr. faces 20 years in prison.
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