Vanderbilt Prevails in Lawsuit Over Student’s Death by Suicide

A university didn’t have a special relationship with a student that required it to prevent him from committing suicide, a federal court said in dismissing the parents’ wrongful death suit.

Taking what it called “an Erie guess,” the US District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee dismissed the case, saying the state’s top court likely wouldn’t have found a special relationship under the circumstances of this case that would have imposed a duty to prevent Brian Adams’ death. Under Erie Railroad Co. v. Tompkins, the US Supreme Court held—in 1938—that federal courts sitting in cases between citizens of ...