Hanouchian v. Steele
Annotate this Case
After plaintiff was attacked suddenly, and without provocation, by two other men at a Phi Mu sorority party at SCUN, he filed suit against members of Phi Mu alleging a claim for negligence based on their alleged failure to follow certain risk management protocols adopted by CSUN and its fraternal organizations pertaining to off-campus events.
The Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court's decision sustaining defendants' demurrers and dismissal. The court held that defendants did not owe plaintiff a legal duty to follow CSUN's fraternal organizational safety protocols to prevent a third party criminal attack. In this case, plaintiff cannot allege sufficient facts to establish the high degree of foreseeability necessary to charge defendants with a legal duty to take highly burdensome measures to prevent the type of sudden and unprovoked third party criminal attack that allegedly occurred here. The court also held that defendants' agreement to CSUN's fraternal organization safety protocols does not support a negligent undertaking claim.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.