Attorneys for the national Kappa Delta Rho organization want the court to keep a former fraternity brother from publicly releasing certain information about his lawsuit against KDR.
James Vivenzio, 21, is suing KDR, Penn State and the university’s fraternity governance organizations in Philadelphia County Court for alleged instances of hazing and abuse during his time in the fraternity. Vivenzio inadvertently sparked a storm of media attention when he went to State College police in January with allegations of that KDR brothers were hazing pledges and hosting private Facebook pages with photos of nude, unconscious women.
In court documents filed last week, attorneys for KDR accuse Vivenzio’s lawyers of running a “marketing website” in connection with the lawsuit to generate press coverage about the case. The website in question, EndHazingNow.com, contains case documents, press releases and statements from Vivenzio and his attorneys.
KDR says that Vienzio’s attorney, Aaron Freiwald, routinely issued press releases and made public statements about developments in the case before KDR’s attorneys had the opportunity to read the new court filings or formulate a response. They also claim that some of these press releases misrepresented certain legal nuances of the lawsuit, and that Freiwald did not respond to letters about these discrepancies.
Attorneys for the fraternity say they are concerned that every piece of testimony and evidence gathered during the course of the lawsuit will be posted to the EndHazingNow website. They claim this would be an unfair invasion of privacy to many people who may be connected to the case but are not parties to the lawsuit.
Some of the documents requested by Vivenzio will contain personal information about current and former fraternity members and their parents, who “may be subject to retribution or personal humiliation,” KDR attorneys says.
“The documents also involve several female students (or former students) in various sexual references, the mere identity of whom would cause unfair embarrassment and humiliation, the filing reads.
They ask the court to enter a protective order that would prevent Vivenzio’s attorneys from publicly sharing any documents, testimony or other evidence gathered in the discovery phase of the lawsuit.
In his complaint filed in June, Vivenzio alleges he was burned with cigarettes, punched in the face, and forced to drink liquor to the point of vomiting, which was sometimes mixed with hot sauce and urine. He claims he brought these allegations to Penn State months before going to police and that Penn State failed to act.
Penn State disputes these allegations, saying in a statement that the university repeatedly offered assistance to Vivenzio, but he was not willing to file a complaint, speak to police or pursue a formal disciplinary process “despite repeated encouragement from University staff.”
In June, the national KDR organization expelled 38 members from the Penn State chapter. Penn State has also banned the university from campus for three years, and has said that a number of fraternity members are subject to the confidential student disciplinary process, which may include expulsion.
