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MSU Fraternity Facing Personal Injury Lawsuit for Throwing Water Balloon

The Missouri Epsilon Chapter of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity is facing a personal injury lawsuit because of an injury caused to a student by a water balloon that was allegedly thrown by three of its members.

Emma Rapp is a senior psychology major at Missouri State University. As per the lawsuit, Rapp was at the Delta Zeta sorority house on Sept 11, 2011. This is right next to the Phi Delta Theta fraternity house, whose members were allegedly slinging balloons at the Delta Zeta sorority house using some kind of powerful slingshot device.

The lawsuit names Anthony Ramos, Ryan Owens and William Pschier as the alleged miscreants responsible for the attack. After a few minutes of water balloon attacks, plaintiff stepped out of the house in an attempt to leave. It was then that one of the balloons hit her right eye. She fell down and damaged her eye.

As per the court documents, Emma was bleeding and in severe pain. The eye was swollen shut, with hemorrhaging in the eye and a fractured orbital wall. After this incident, Emma has suffered from a lot of sight-related issues, including double vision and a dysfunctional pupil, corneal edema, severe headaches, and some amount of visual impairment, among other things.

She claims to be in need of future medical treatment for the injury, and also claims that her right eye is now disfigured. Phi Delta Theta’s insurance carrier refused to pay anything in damages, so Emma Rapp has now filed a personal injury claim. She is not asking for any criminal charges to be filed against the defendants.

The lawsuit also names Greg Laury and Dave Corwin, who were the Missouri Epsilon Chapter president and vice president at that time, respectively. There are no claims made against them, but they were named in accordance with state law.

Did you know?
Personal injury lawsuits for harassment by students in educational institutions can make use of state anti-hazing laws.
Anti-hazing laws are in force in 44 states in the U.S. Any physical or mental injuries, pain and suffering caused by students to other students is a violation of state law, and the perpetrators can be charged and prosecuted for it. The victim should be able to file a civil lawsuit based on the same state law violation.