## Facts

- Keith Orzech, age 21, was a Fairleigh Dickinson University (FDU) student, enrolled for the upcoming academic term, and living in campus housing as a resident adviser during summer break.
- FDU maintained an alcohol policy for residence halls; resident advisers were responsible for reporting violations to Public Safety.
- Orzech and his suitemate hosted a dormitory party involving grain alcohol, drinking games, and alcohol consumption by underage attendees, violating the policy.
- By about 2:00 a.m., Orzech was severely intoxicated, was assisted to bed, later fell from a fourth-floor dormitory window, and died.
- Orzech’s family sued FDU for wrongful death and survivorship damages, alleging negligent alcohol policies and negligent enforcement by Public Safety.
- FDU asserted immunity under the New Jersey Charitable Immunity Act (NJCIA), claiming it was a nonprofit educational institution and Orzech was a beneficiary of its educational works (including residential life) when injured.

## Issues

1. Whether FDU qualified for immunity under the NJCIA as an organization organized exclusively for educational purposes.
2. Whether a student living in campus housing remained a “beneficiary” of the university’s educational works when the injury occurred in the context of the student’s alcohol-policy violations and alleged lax enforcement.
3. Whether alleged negligent failure to enforce alcohol rules removed the incident from the university’s educational objectives so as to defeat charitable immunity for simple negligence.

## Decision

- The Appellate Division reversed the judgment against FDU.
- The court held that FDU was entitled to charitable immunity under the NJCIA against the plaintiffs’ simple-negligence claims.
- The court ruled that FDU’s alleged failure to enforce its alcohol policy, and Orzech’s violations of that policy, did not negate Orzech’s status as a beneficiary of FDU’s educational works at the time of the accident.

## Legal Principles

- Under the NJCIA, a nonprofit entity organized exclusively for educational (or other covered charitable) purposes is immune from liability for damages caused by simple negligence to persons who are beneficiaries of its works, when the injury occurs in the course of the entity’s educational/charitable activities.
- For a university, “educational works” can include student residential life and supervision provided through campus housing.
- Beneficiary status is not lost solely because the injured person engaged in wrongful or rule-violating conduct at the time of injury.
- Allegations that the institution negligently implemented or enforced internal safety or alcohol policies do not, by themselves, remove the institution’s conduct from its educational objectives for purposes of charitable immunity.

## Conclusion

The court held that a nonprofit university was immune under the NJCIA from simple-negligence claims arising from a student’s alcohol-related death in a dormitory because the student, as an enrolled resident in university housing, remained a beneficiary of the university’s educational works despite policy violations and alleged negligent enforcement.


Orzech v. Fairleigh Dickinson Univ., 411 N.J. Super. 198, 985 A.2d 189 (N.J. Super. Ct. App. Div. 2009)