Colorado’s Kappa Sig Chapter Suing Hotel Because They Overcharged For Damages

Rob Fox13 years ago

The operative word is “overcharged” in this instance. The fact that there were damages is not in dispute. Kappa Sig held a formal, or away weekend (or whatever it’s called at CU-Boulder), in Aspen, Colorado. They stayed at the Viceroy Snowmass, raged balls, and fucked shit up. What is in dispute is exactly how much shit Kappa Sig fucked up. The fraternity is disputing exactly $5,534 worth of shit, to be specific. And that’s just the problem, in Kappa Sig’s eyes; the Viceroy is not being specific. The fraternity alleges those charges are quite ambiguous.

The fraternity alleges that Viceroy staff withdrew $5,534 from its bank account for “unsubstantiated claims, including room fees, parking fees, pet fees, spa services, dining charges, etc., for third-party guests.”

Sounds like a bunch of bullshit to me. Parking fees? You’re really going to charge the fraternity extra because someone got drunk and parallel parked their Tahoe across three empty spaces? And in the process hit the cars on either end? Those “pet fees” sound like bullshit, too. The frathound is a member of the fraternity dammit! He’s in the composite! Plus, the social chair already informed the hotel the frathound would be attending. Don’t tell me these charges are for the goats. That’s just what they call their pledges. Also, they left that actual mountain goat they drunkenly captured in the parking lot, so charging them for that is unfair. And spa services? So what if people kept sneaking into the sauna and banging/smoking weed? It was after hours. It’s not like the staff had to do anything to accommodate them. Don’t even get me started on the dining charges. It could have been ANYONE who broke into the hotel kitchen and tried to cook a pound of bacon. Security footage or it didn’t happen.

But like I said, there are damages that Kappa Sig does not dispute.

The Viceroy also “withdrew substantial additional sums which the plaintiffs do not dispute, as they were for fees and expenses within the contractual agreement.”

All in all it was a pretty average weekend.

According to one person with knowledge of what occurred, the frat members’ actions were “pretty notorious.”

“You know how it is, they partied hard,” said the person, who asked not to be named because they were not authorized to speak for the Viceroy. “They had some damages at the hotel, and they were asked to never come back.”

I thoroughly enjoy the unnamed source’s casual tone in regards to the several thousand dollars worth of damage. “Eh, you know how it is. The fraternity showed up, then everyone blacked out, immediately started breaking shit and fucking, so we banned them for life. Pretty standard.”

In all seriousness, it actually sounds like the Viceroy is full of shit and that Kappa Sig has a decent case.

But according to the lawsuit, the Viceroy extracted the frat’s funds without assessing “damages per guest/room.” The hotel also allegedly failed to establish the conditions of rooms before the frat members checked in.

Among the other allegations are that the hotel failed to provide evidence of all of the damages claimed; did not provide itemized invoices for the amounts withdrawn; and unilaterally withdrew “substantial sums from the plaintiff’s bank account for purposes of refunding expenses to third-party guests” of the Viceroy.

At one point during the fraternity’s stay, the hotel called the police to do a walkthrough. What the officers found was, to put it mildly, not in any way illicit or terrifying.

Hotel security asked Snowmass Village police to assist with a “walk through” on the two floors where the frat was partying, said Sgt. Brian Olson.

As officer Brian Vanderpool walked through the hotel around midnight on Oct. 13, he heard a fracas taking place, Olson said.

…

“I don’t think we responded to any call for property damage,” Olson said.

A fracas!?!?!?! That’ll be $5,000.

Here’s hoping Kappa Sig wins the case and opens the door for other fraternities to countersue whenever a hotel charges them for damages. I’m guessing overcharging fraternities is a relatively common occurrence. Then again, fraternities causing several thousand dollars worth of damage to places they reside for more than 24 consecutive hours is a pretty common occurrence, as well.

[via Aspen Daily News Online]