[Bolding Mine]
But even though I’m dumb enough to have a best friend who stabs people I might just be smart enough to stay away from him when I see that he might get violent.
Also, we don’t know if the violent guy was invited to the party or whether SM’s brother brought him to it. If so, the lawyer’s for the plaintiff may be very interested in whether or not the bother had known that the stabber was a violent person before he brought him to the party.
They could be trying l try to establish that SM’s brother shares some responsibility by bringing a known violent person into the party.
The OP says that it’s the brother’s friend (the one who committed the assault) who was rushing the frat, not the brother. Presumably, he was just along for the party.
I think it’s a pretty safe assumption that the brother was the one who was brought to the party by the violent guy, since violent guy was rushing the frat which owned the house where the party was held, but the brother was not involved with the frat in any way, according to the OP.
Has your brother been properly served? Or does he just know about the lawsuit? If he has been served, the time clock is ticking on his answer to the complaint. If he hasn’t been served, then I wouldn’t contact the attorney’s office. Most states have a specific timeframe for service before the court dismisses it.
Was your brother a minor at the time of the incident? Was he living with/dependant upon the parents? If so, check their homeowner’s insurance for a defense (assuming they have such). It’s a long shot, but worth looking in to. If he’s been served, all you do is get a copy of the complaint to them and let them determine if there is coverage. In the meantime, they might hire an attorney to answer the complaint or at least get an extension for the answer.
He can call the state bar referral in his area to get referrals to free legal advice and/or attorneys to represent him. $5k is a tad high I suspect, but if the motion to dismiss is objected to by the plaintiff’s attorney then he could be looking at $1500-2500 easy if there is a full blown motion drafting (his attorney would be drafting 2 pleadings, the motion and then the reply to plaintiff’s response) and then a hearing.
As **Boyo Jim ** stated, the plaintiff’s attorney is looking for deep pockets, and this shot gun effect is normal. The attorney already has the police report, it may say what your brother thinks it says, or it may not. Your brother might want to get a copy of it, and all supplements, as well.
No offense, but even with your disclaimer this sort of statement just drives me up a wall. What’s the point? That everyone always stays within ten yards of their best friends at parties, so it’s quite likely that Soapbox’s brother is lying and in fact was at the fight? Do you think your interaction with your friends at parties is so universal that you can draw conclusions about this situation from it?
I see this all the time in online discussions of this sort, and it’s maddening. Just because someone does something differently than how you would do it doesn’t mean it’s automatically suspicious.
Unfortunately, there are plenty of lawyers out there whose thinking runs not along the lines of “How long will it take me to write that letter?” but rather “What does it look like it would be worth to this guy if I write that letter?”
Sorry to read about your brother’s troubles. Unfortunately, litigation is an expensive process that I would not wish on any Doper. Having said that, it’s critical that your brother reply (either with an answer or a dispositive motion) in a timely manner, otherwise things get even more costly.
You may wish to refer your brother to Legal Aid of Southeastern Pennsylvania, whose website is found here: http://www.lasp.org/
Alternatively, if you or your brother would like to discuss this matter with Doper-vouched-for counsel, you may send me an email and I’ll put you in touch with someone from my firm’s Westchester, PA office.
Since he was not involved in the attacks (the attacker confessed and is serving a jail sentence) I think he’s just being sued along with all the members of the fraternity who were present.
Which makes me think that they’re suing him because they THINK he was a member, which he wasn’t. I mean, I highly doubt that all the non-Greek-affiliated college students who were attending that party are being sued (there were easily a hundred people at the party).
Also, in an email sent to my best friend about a month back (he was the President of the fraternity at the time of the incident), the email actually LISTED my brother as a member of the fraternity being sued.
So how is that not simply an issue of proving to the judge and the prosecution that “hey look, not only is Soapbox Monkey’s brother not in the fraternity, he was never a member of this academic institution.”?
My brother’s friend was rushing the fraternity in question. My brother on a few occasions warned my best friend about said attackers tendencies towards violence and stated that perhaps him joining the fraternity would not be in everyone’s best interest.
As an update, my brother’s been getting some legal advice from my dad, who used to be an attorney in West Chester, and he still knows many of the people both on the bench and who are attorneys. Apparently this issue might be coverable by our homeowner’s insurance, as my mom was still claiming him as a dependent at the time.
Perhaps just get an attorney to call plaintiff’s counsel and ask what evidence there is against your brother, specifically. If none, then ask for a dismissal.
If plaintiff’s counsel offers up some facts, then perhaps offer to secure and informally present rebuttal evidence, including evidence of being judgment proof.
A phone call like this might take 15 minutes and shouldn’t cost $5,000.
By the way, you mentioned this happened 2.5 years ago. You might look up the statute of limitation for each claim alleged in the complaint. Maybe it expired.
Depends what they claim to have done or not done. Some claims are more believable than others, given human nature.
To be sure, the claim “I went to the party with my best friend but I was nowhere near him when the fight broke out” is not an outrageous claim. At the same time, if I were the victim’s attorney, I would be somewhat skeptical of that claim.
Been there, done that, got the tee shirt, and key chain.
FTIW I got caught in a similar situation a couple of years back.
I bought a car direct from Volvo (not a dealer mind you, but from Volvo corporate direct)
I sold the same car 2 days later for a couple of hundred dollars more to a friend.
Eleven years later the car was involved in an accident and the driver was injured.
The driver gets an attorney. The attorney hires a PI to investigate the history of the car. He finds that I owned the car, but it never went to a dealer. He calls one evening when I am out of town, my wife tells him I am out of town and to call back on Saturday. Three weeks later, he calls back on a Thursday. My wife asks if he is hard of hearing, as she said Saturday. He asks me to call back. I don’t bother as it was a long distance call, and I wasn’t in the mood. If he wants to talk to me, he can call when I am available.
The driver (and her attorney) alleged a product fault caused her injuries. The lawsuit for $4,000,000 names me and Volvo Cars.
The first I know about this is when, I get a call from the head of the legal department (talk about being called into the principals office) telling me that I have been named in a $4,000,000 product liability lawsuit. :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: At the time he did not yet have the details, just the VIN of the car.
I researched it and discovered it was that car that I owned for maybe 3 days and sold.
I called an attorney friend of mine, and asked what to do? Her response? You are fucked. It will probably cost you $2,000-$5,000 to get out of this. :eek: :eek: :eek: Her suggestion, was to ask pretty please if the company would help me out.
I called the head of legal back, and told him about why I was named (I had owned the car) and what I had found from car fax etc. I asked him if I needed to retain council, and he said that Volvo would use their counsel to cover me. Whew.
I still had to do a deposition, and go the settlement conference, where I finally brought this up, and got it dismissed.
Not fun.