COLUMBUS — Attorneys for the family of Stone Foltz, the Bowling Green State University hazing victim, have urged a Franklin County Common Pleas Court magistrate to recommend $88 million in damages against the chapter president of the fraternity he was pledging.
While conceding that a statutory cap on punitive damages will limit the potential award, the Foltz family asked the court to award a huge number to make a statement.
"While tort claims are designed to compensate those who are injured or suffer damages, Ohio courts have recognized that they also provide a societal function including encouraging safer conduct and providing vindication for those who are injured or harmed," reads the Friday filing from the Columbus law firm of Cooper Elliott.
Magistrate Jennifer Hunt will make a recommendation to the court. She presided over a hearing in February to consider damages against Daylen Dunson, of Cleveland Heights, in the March, 2021 alcohol-poisoning death of Mr. Foltz, 20, of Delaware, Ohio.
Dunson had already been judged liable in absentia. Neither he nor an attorney showed up at the damages hearing to offer a defense, and he has never responded to the complaint.
At the hearing, the attorneys proposed a massive $225 million for survivorship, wrongful death, and punitive damages. But because of the punitive-damage cap, that potential total figure would be reduced to just over $88 million.
The requested amount breaks down to:
— $33.8 million in survivorship damages for the Stone Foltz estate, $1 million for each ounce of bourbon in the bottle Mr. Foltz was directed to chug as part of a "Big Little" hazing ritual at the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity.
— $54 million in wrongful-death damages, $1 million for each additional year the suit contends Mr. Foltz would have been expected to live. Of that, $20 million would go to each of his parents and $7 million each to his younger brother and sister.
— $350,000 in punitive damages, as capped under state law. At the hearing, the attorneys had argued for $137.5 million, $25,000 for each Greek organization across the United States.
The filing contends that a cap on survivorship damages should not apply, arguing this case falls into an exception under the law because Stone Foltz suffered the "loss of a bodily organ and had a permanent physical functional injury." There is no cap on wrongful-death damages.
The filing does not specify how the money could be used, but parents Cory and Shari Foltz have indicated that at least some would go to the iamstonefoltz FOUNDATION to work toward eradicating hazing.
During the February hearing, the family's attorneys conceded they are unlikely to collect from Dunson, but voiced hope a massive damage award would garner media attention for the anti-hazing cause.
After chugging all 33.8 ounces of bourbon from a bottle handed to him at the hazing event, the severely intoxicated Stone Foltz was taken to his near-campus apartment and left alone on his couch. By the time a roommate discovered him later, he had stopped breathing.
His blood alcohol content was determined to be 0.394, nearly five times the legal limit. He died several days later without ever regaining consciousness.
"The alcohol in [Stone's] system was provided by and forced on Stone Foltz by Daylen Dunson and others," Friday's filing states.
Fourteen other defendants in the lawsuit had already settled for a total of $11.4 million, the largest shares coming from BGSU, $2.9 million, and Pi Kappa Alpha, $2.1 million.
A BGSU communications student, Dunson served 21 days in jail and 28 days of house arrest. He is currently on probation after pleading guilty in 2022 to reckless homicide, tampering with evidence, obstructing justice, hazing, and failure to comply with underage alcohol laws in Wood County Common Pleas Court.
He was one of several students who entered plea deals for their roles that night.
Based on his pleas, he had already been determined in the civil case to have acted recklessly.
"Dunson intended to cause emotional distress to Foltz," the filing reads. "Dunson's conduct was so extreme and outrageous as to go beyond the bounds of decency and was such that the conduct can be considered utterly intolerable in a civilized society."
First Published April 15, 2024, 7:32 p.m.
