The U.S. Supreme Court won’t review an appeal from Louisiana State University, which has argued that it should be immune from a lawsuit filed by the parents of Maxwell Gruver, a Roswell freshman who died from alcohol poisoning.
Stephen and Rae Ann Gruver filed the federal lawsuit in November 2018, about 14 months after their son died during a suspected hazing incident at the Phi Delta Theta fraternity house. At the time of his death in September 2017, Max Gruver had an alcohol level of .495 percent — more than six times the legal limit for drivers.
The lawsuit which seeks $25 million, alleges that LSU responded with “deliberate indifference” to allegations of hazing at fraternities. It also said Phi Delta has “a long history of dangerous misconduct at universities across the country.”
After Gruver’s death, then-LSU President F. King Alexander suspended all Greek activities and the fraternity’s national headquarters also investigate the death and suspended the chapter.
According to the lawsuit, LSU discriminates by policing sorority hazing incidents more strictly than hazing at fraternities. But the university claimed sovereign immunity.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans ruled that because LSU accepts federal funding under Title IX, it waives immunity from lawsuits claiming sexual discrimination.
LSU will now “finally have to defend the case on the merits,” the Gruvers’ attorney, Jonathon Fazzola, told The Associated Press. He said he’s confident that compelling the university to present testimony and evidence in the discovery phase “will further show the reason why LSU has fought so hard to avoid doing that.”
LSU attorney David Bienvenu Jr. declined to comment, according to The AP.
Max Gruver was a 2017 graduate of Blessed Trinity High School and planned to study journalism at LSU. He loved sports and helped coach younger children, including his sister’s basketball team, according to his family.
“Max was very lovable. He cared a lot about people,” Eugene Gruver, Max’s grandfather, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in the days after his death. “He was bright, he was intelligent. He was so talented. He knew all about sports.”
The family later founded The Max Gruver Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to ending hazing on college campuses. His parents said a journal entry found shortly after his death inspired the foundation.
Matthew Naquin, of Fair Oaks Ranch, Texas, was convicted in July 2019 of negligent homicide in Gruver’s death. Naquin was later sentenced to five years in prison, but a judge suspended all but 2½ years of the term. He began serving his sentence in January.
— The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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