LAKE CHARLES, La. (KLFY)- An appellate judge has reversed a trial court decision to dismiss the involvement of individual fraternity members of Kappa Sigma- a fraternity accused of hazing a driver who fell asleep at the wheel and killed a UL student.
On Nov. 6, 2016, Rustam Nizamutdinova, a UL masters student, was struck and killed by a vehicle on Johnston Street. The driver, Michael Gallagher, was a Kappa Sigma pledge who fell asleep at the wheel due to reported sleep deprivation as part of a fraternity hazing activity.
Gallagher pleaded no contest to a traffic violation, because there was “no evidence that he had acted recklessly or was under the influence at the time of the crash,” his attorney Barry Sallinger said.
The Gallagher family later filed a suit against the national fraternity chapter and the university in an effort to address hazing practices. The lawsuit was settled in Nov. 2018, Sallinger said.
On Thursday, a trial court ruling in a separate lawsuit against Kappa Sigma member was reversed by the Chief Judge of the Louisiana Court of Appeal Third Circuit.
“The opinion details how fraternity members have duties to refrain from hazing, and duties to our client,” The Fierberg National Law Group said in a statement about the reversal. “This appellate decision is solid legal authority for preventing these types of legal antics by fraternity officers and brothers in the future, certainly in Louisiana and, likely, elsewhere.”
Though not familiar with the details of Nizamutdinova, Max Gruber Foundation representative Blakely Willard had this to say about hazing, “There definitely is a lot of individual responsibility and not just for the people that do haze, but its also the people who see it going on and don’t try and put a stop to it, or don’t say anything, and don’t intervene”.
Willard also said if you see something, say something. Many schools have ways to anonymously report hazing online, and she believes those resources could save lives.
“If we affect even one person or change one person’s mind about hazing, we feel like we’ve done a good job”, Willard said.
The University of Louisiana at Lafayette has made the following statement on appellate court reversal:
“Out of respect for the judicial process and the multiple parties involved, the University has no comment.”