New Jersey court finds university not liable in student’s death

The Newark Star-Ledger (12/29) reported, “Fairleigh Dickinson University is not liable for the death of a junior who fell from a fourth-floor dorm window in 2005 after a night of heavy drinking, and won’t have to pay his parents a prior jury award of $260,000, a [New Jersey] appeals court has ruled.” A three-judge panel “ruled the university in Madison-Florham Park has immunity from liability under state law. As a nonprofit educational institution, the college is protected under the state’s “Charitable Immunity Act” from being sued by one of its beneficiaries, in this case a student, for the accidental death, the appellate ruling states.”