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The University of Iowa chapter of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity, or FIJI, has responded to a lawsuit from a reported victim of sexual assault by claiming her conduct was responsible for any injuries incurred during what she says was an assault by two frat members.
“The sole proximate cause of any injury plaintiff may have experienced is due to her own conduct,” the FIJI chapter wrote in response to a lawsuit from the woman accusing the fraternity of aiding and abetting the alleged attackers by orchestrating a conspiracy of silence and also sharing videos and photos of the attack, the Iowa Gazette reported.
The incident, which reportedly happened in 2020, prompted protests outside the FIJI house in September and ultimately led to the arrest of one of the alleged attackers earlier this month. Carson Douglas Steffen, a former FIJI member, was arrested for sharing a photo, without permission, of the reported victim engaged in a sex act in the FIJI house on the night she said she was assaulted. The Gazette reported that police do not intend to charge the other alleged attacker, who is also named in the lawsuit alongside Steffen and the Mu Deuteron FIJI chapter at Iowa.
The lawsuit filed in October by the woman claims that she was sexually assaulted while intoxicated “as a coordinated and planned effort” that was not limited to her two alleged attackers. According to the lawsuit, she is seeking a jury trial and “compensatory damages in a fair and reasonable amount and punitive damages in an amount that will satisfactorily punish Defendants and provide future deterrence to others, plus interest and the costs of this action.”
