For the second time in as many years, Katy Andre, a shareholder at Davis & Wilkerson, has helped her client, a private university based in Central Texas, successfully defend itself against a lawsuit.

The university, which is affiliated with a religious institution, was sued by the family of student, who died after he was struck and killed by an oncoming car on a state highway adjacent to the university.

The family alleged that the university owed a duty to their son to warn and protect against the dangerous adjacent highway, despite the fact that the student did not use a nearby crosswalk.

The court found that there was no duty owed by the university to the student because the university did not control the adjacent state highway or the relevant intersection.

“What happened that night was tragedy,” said Andre. “No one wants to lose a young adult, not his family or the university.”

Andre, along with her partner David A. Wright, helped the same client secure a favorable decision in 2010, when the college was sued for negligence by the parents of a student who committed suicide on campus during the holiday break. The court found then that there was no special relationship between the school and the student’s parents, and therefore no duty owed to the parents to inform them of their son’s activities without the student’s authorization to do so pursuant to FERPA.

Andre was assisted in the case by David Wright, firm president and a shareholder, and Grady Williamson, an associate.

dwlaw.com