Jury Verdict Submission & Research

On Jan. 27, 2012, defendant Omega Psi Phi, Omicron Kappa Chapter, hosted a fraternity party at their house off of the campus of Missouri State University. Fraternity members, including chapter president Emmanuel Chapman and Kelvin Jones, and some party guests became heavily intoxicated and began participating in a game called "knock-out," in which they would strike unsuspecting victims in the head in an effort to knock them unconscious. In the early morning hours of Jan. 28, 2012, plaintiff Trevor Godfrey, who lived in a neighboring home, walked outside to move his car and was struck in the head. Plaintiff fell to the ground, striking his head on the pavement, and began convulsing. As he laid on the ground, party guests and/or fraternity members allegedly continued to strike and kick him. Plaintiff suffered numerous injuries, including a traumatic brain injury, seizures, loss of teeth, dislocated shoulder, and head and facial lacerations and contusions.

On Jan. 23, 2014, plaintiff filed a petition against defendants Omega Psi Phi, Omicron Kappa Chapter, (OPPOKC) and numerous individuals in the Circuit Court of Greene County, Missouri. On Jan. 13, 2017, the jury returned a verdict against OPPOKC and awarded plaintiff $630,000 in compensatory damages and $1,000,000 in punitive damages.

Plaintiff was represented by Steven Garner, Nick Smart, and Paul Sherman of Strong Garner and Bauer, PC of Springfield, MO. Defendant was represented by John Standberg and Joseph Devereux of Sandberg Phoenix & Von Gontard of St. Louis, MO, as well as Hal Meltzer of Baker, Sterchi, Cowden & Rice of Kansas City, MO. 

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Downloads: Plaintiff's Response to OKC's MTS Opinions of Expert Halfaker.pdf