Date rape? SAE at Mercer sued

[hoosier]

Ex-student sues, says Mercer ignored rape
Norman Arey - Staff
Tuesday, January 25, 2005

A former Mercer University student has filed lawsuits against the college and a fellow student contending she was sexually assaulted two years ago at a fraternity house on campus.

In a lawsuit filed Jan. 10 in federal court, the woman accused the private Macon university of failing to take action on the case, even though she complained to school officials about the alleged rape.

The woman, an 18-year-old freshman at the time of the incident, filed a complaint with the Macon Police Department the same day of the attack, Jan. 10, 2003. She told police that she had been raped at Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity house at Mercer.

The woman's name is being withheld because she alleges that she is a victim of sexual assault.

She identified her attacker as Daniel Day, a Mercer student who is the son of state Rep. Burke Day (R-Tybee Island). In a separate suit filed in Bibb County Superior Court, the woman names Day as the defendant. The suit accuses Day of sexual battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress and false imprisonment.

Day has not been charged with a crime. District Attorney Howard Simms said Monday that the police did not send the case to his office for prosecution. "That means that they didn't feel the case was able to be prosecuted," Simms said.

Day referred all inquiries to his attorney, John G. Parker of Atlanta. Parker said his client denies all of the allegations.

"This is simply an effort to extort money from Daniel," Parker said. "We will be filing an answer to the suit and seek to get attorney's fees because it is frivolous litigation. They tried to get us to pay some money beforehand and we categorically refused to do that."

The lawsuit also says the woman reported the incident to the hospital and university officials. It accuses the university of violating Title IX, the federal law that protects women from sex discrimination at academic institutions. And it accuses the fraternity of negligence because it had a duty to protect her.

The fraternity did not return phone calls, and the university's attorney declined to comment because the school had not received a copy of the lawsuit.

The lawsuits contend that Day met the woman at a Macon bar, where she was admitted as "an under-21 guest." The suit says Day had been drinking at the SAE house in the evening and had come to the bar for its "Drink and Drown" party, where for $5 patrons were entitled to all they could drink.

The woman and Day had dated previously, but the woman had broken off the relationship a month earlier, the lawsuit said.

The suits allege that the SAE fraternity had a history of sexual assault allegations on the campus of Mercer in Macon and that Day had a history of assaulting other women. Parker, Day's attorney, disputed the assertion. "I don't believe that is correct," he said.

The lawsuit contends that the woman was forced to withdraw from Mercer because she suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and suicidal thoughts.

[Tom Earp]

Often Wonder Why oh Why it takes so long to decide for someone to File and Sue for Charges of anything!

[GeekyPenguin]

Originally posted by Tom Earp
Often Wonder Why oh Why it takes so long to decide for someone to File and Sue for Charges of anything!

She filed a complaint against her alleged attacker the day of the rape. This is less than two weeks later.

I often wonder why oh why your misogynistic views consider to be tolerated on this website.

[SAEalumnus]

Originally posted by Tom Earp
Often Wonder Why oh Why it takes so long to decide for someone to File and Sue for Charges of anything!

Originally posted by GeekyPenguin
She filed a complaint against her alleged attacker the day of the rape. This is less than two weeks later.

Begging your pardon, but I believe you are both correct. According to the news article, the alleged victim did file a complaint with the Macon Police Department on the same day of the incident, which was Jan 10, 2003. In reference to the lawsuit, however, the news article states only that it was filed on Jan 10, and did not indicate a year. The article was published on Tuesday, January 25, 2005, which suggests the lawsuit was filed exactly two years to the day after the incident (approximately two weeks ago).

The timing here is not necessarily unusual. You see, many (if not all) states have a statute of limitations imposed by law on how long one is allowed after sustaining personal injury or property damage to either settle or file suit. In California, for example, the statutes as of Jan 1, 2004, are two years for actions involving bodily injury and three years for actions involving property damage only. While I am familiar with California law by being employed in auto insurance claims, I am not sufficiently familiar with Georgia's laws to be able to quote them from memory, but it sounds like Georgia may well have the same two-year statute for personal injury actions. I welcome anyone more familiar with Georgia's personal injury laws to correct me if I am mistaken.

Turning to the information (or lack thereof) contained in the article itself, it would seem to me, upon initial inspection anyway, that the alleged victim is seeking damages from those with the deepest pockets (not an uncommon practice among personal injury attorneys). The article states that the alleged assailant met the alleged victim at a bar after having had some drinks at his fraternity house. The article suggests that the assault took place at the fraternity house itself, but does not indicate how the pair got from meeting at a bar (where the alleged victim was admitted as an underage guest) to the fraternity house (where he would likely have had some level of alcohol in his system whereas she would likely have been entirely sober given she was underage).

To be perfectly clear, I firmly believe that IF the alleged assailant is in fact guilty of the crimes for which he is being accused (sexual battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress and false imprisonment), then he should be held accountable to the fullest extent allowed under Georgia's laws (not to mention those of the University and of SAE). The burden of proof, however, falls entirely on the alleged victim to prove her case (i.e. the alleged assailant is innocent until proven guilty). In addition to naming the alleged assailant for the charges just mentioned, she has also apparently accused Mercer University of failing to protect her under Federal Title IX and the fraternity for negligence of a duty to protect her. These charges would have to be proven as well.

To wrap up my slightly more than $0.02 on this topic, I'd like to present the following.

First, sexual assault is a serious crime and should be punished wherever proven in order to deter future occurrences. Women should not be made to feel afraid to report such attacks. -- HOWEVER -- I think we all remember the fiasco that ensued from the Kobe Bryant case. I believe that both parties should take proper actions to prevent this sort of thing (to the extent possible anyway) and that any applicable contributory negligence on the part of the alleged victim should also been taken into account. The article does indicate that the alleged victim and assailant had previously dated and had only split up a month previous to the date of the incident, which could have had an effect on the circumstances surrounding this incident.

Second, the alleged victim's attorney alleges "that the SAE fraternity had a history of sexual assault allegations on the campus of Mercer in Macon." The two points I'd like to raise about this are: 1) key word: allegation (not conviction), and 2) the Georgia Psi Chapter had previously been shut down (I don't have info in front of me currently as to why), and was rechartered in 1997, which suggests that any allegations prior to 1997 would be irrelevant as they would have involved an entirely different group of people.

Third, and finally (yes, I know, I'm long-winded), my opinions are my own. I do not speak on behalf of anyone other than myself. I believe an interesting parallel exists here with that idea. Individuals should definitely be held accountable for their own actions if any negligence can be proven, but I think the alleged victim's attorney's primary goal in naming Mercer University and SAE as well in the suit was an attempt to increase her odds of winning a substantially larger settlement if the suit proves successful (of which, of course, the attorney would take a sizeable share). Considering Daniel Day was never charged with a crime because the Macon Police Department did not believe the case was strong enough to submit to the District Attorney for prosecution, it sounds as though her entire case is founded upon allegations alone.

[link to original article]

[Rudey]

I'm glad there are guys out there who believe both rapist and rapee should take precaution to make sure rape does not occur.

-Rudey

Originally posted by SAEalumnus
Begging your pardon, but I believe you are both correct. According to the news article, the alleged victim did file a complaint with the Macon Police Department on the same day of the incident, which was Jan 10, 2003. In reference to the lawsuit, however, the news article states only that it was filed on Jan 10, and did not indicate a year. The article was published on Tuesday, January 25, 2005, which suggests the lawsuit was filed exactly two years to the day after the incident (approximately two weeks ago).

The timing here is not necessarily unusual. You see, many (if not all) states have a statute of limitations imposed by law on how long one is allowed after sustaining personal injury or property damage to either settle or file suit. In California, for example, the statutes as of Jan 1, 2004, are two years for actions involving bodily injury and three years for actions involving property damage only. While I am familiar with California law by being employed in auto insurance claims, I am not sufficiently familiar with Georgia's laws to be able to quote them from memory, but it sounds like Georgia may well have the same two-year statute for personal injury actions. I welcome anyone more familiar with Georgia's personal injury laws to correct me if I am mistaken.

Turning to the information (or lack thereof) contained in the article itself, it would seem to me, upon initial inspection anyway, that the alleged victim is seeking damages from those with the deepest pockets (not an uncommon practice among personal injury attorneys). The article states that the alleged assailant met the alleged victim at a bar after having had some drinks at his fraternity house. The article suggests that the assault took place at the fraternity house itself, but does not indicate how the pair got from meeting at a bar (where the alleged victim was admitted as an underage guest) to the fraternity house (where he would likely have had some level of alcohol in his system whereas she would likely have been entirely sober given she was underage).

To be perfectly clear, I firmly believe that IF the alleged assailant is in fact guilty of the crimes for which he is being accused (sexual battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress and false imprisonment), then he should be held accountable to the fullest extent allowed under Georgia's laws (not to mention those of the University and of SAE). The burden of proof, however, falls entirely on the alleged victim to prove her case (i.e. the alleged assailant is innocent until proven guilty). In addition to naming the alleged assailant for the charges just mentioned, she has also apparently accused Mercer University of failing to protect her under Federal Title IX and the fraternity for negligence of a duty to protect her. These charges would have to be proven as well.

To wrap up my slightly more than $0.02 on this topic, I'd like to present the following.

First, sexual assault is a serious crime and should be punished wherever proven in order to deter future occurrences. Women should not be made to feel afraid to report such attacks. -- HOWEVER -- I think we all remember the fiasco that ensued from the Kobe Bryant case. I believe that both parties should take proper actions to prevent this sort of thing (to the extent possible anyway) and that any applicable contributory negligence on the part of the alleged victim should also been taken into account. The article does indicate that the alleged victim and assailant had previously dated and had only split up a month previous to the date of the incident, which could have had an effect on the circumstances surrounding this incident.

Second, the alleged victim's attorney alleges "that the SAE fraternity had a history of sexual assault allegations on the campus of Mercer in Macon." The two points I'd like to raise about this are: 1) key word: allegation (not conviction), and 2) the Georgia Psi Chapter had previously been shut down (I don't have info in front of me currently as to why), and was rechartered in 1997, which suggests that any allegations prior to 1997 would be irrelevant as they would have involved an entirely different group of people.

Third, and finally (yes, I know, I'm long-winded), my opinions are my own. I do not speak on behalf of anyone other than myself. I believe an interesting parallel exists here with that idea. Individuals should definitely be held accountable for their own actions if any negligence can be proven, but I think the alleged victim's attorney's primary goal in naming Mercer University and SAE as well in the suit was an attempt to increase her odds of winning a substantially larger settlement if the suit proves successful (of which, of course, the attorney would take a sizeable share). Considering Daniel Day was never charged with a crime because the Macon Police Department did not believe the case was strong enough to submit to the District Attorney for prosecution, it sounds as though her entire case is founded upon allegations alone.

[link to original article]

[sugar and spice]

Statute of limitations laws for rape are usually longer than personal injury. Don't quote me on this, but I believe Georgia's is 15 years.

I don't see, however, what the fraternity's reputation has to do with this girl's case. It could very well be true that the house has a reputation for sexually assaulting girls, but that doesn't mean that this guy did anything. Likewise, the house could have the most pristine reputation possible and he could be a serial rapist.

[DeltAlum]

Originally posted by GeekyPenguin
I often wonder why oh why your misogynistic views consider to be tolerated on this website.

Probably because of all of the other views we allow on the board whether we agree with them or not.

If a post doesn't violate the TOS, I'm inclined to leave it alone.

[honeychile]

Originally posted by sugar and spice


I don't see, however, what the fraternity's reputation has to do with this girl's case. It could very well be true that the house has a reputation for sexually assaulting girls, but that doesn't mean that this guy did anything. Likewise, the house could have the most pristine reputation possible and he could be a serial rapist.

Agreed. To put the shoe on the other foot, if a fraternity has such a bad reputation, why would any women even go there?

[gphiangel624]

Originally posted by honeychile
Agreed. To put the shoe on the other foot, if a fraternity has such a bad reputation, why would any women even go there?

Good point... I'm not one to believe that the victim is always truthful in these situations or that the assailant is always guilty. But if that student had dated the guy before and knew of any true or alleged reputation of its members, maybe she should have avoided the alleged assailant (and the fraternity) completely.

I don't know much about Mercer or even Georgia universities in general, but I seriously doubt that students are not exposed to preventative measures and self-defense to deal with situations like this.

Yet another time to advocate for responsible drinking, partying, and lifestyles...