The family of former University of Missouri student Riley Strain has filed a notice of appeal in their wrongful death lawsuit, after it was dismissed by a Boone County judge last month.
Riley Strain's family filed the original lawsuit after he went missing and was later found dead in the Cumberland river in Nashville, Tennessee in March 2024. His death was ruled an accidental drowning. Medical examiners found Strain's blood alcohol level was nearly three times the legal driving limit in Tennessee at the time of his death.
The family filed the wrongful death suit in March 2025 against multiple parties, including Delta Chi Fraternity, Inc. and 30 members of the fraternity, according to court documents.
In December 2025, a judge ruled in favor of 18 fraternity members, along with the fraternity itself and the owner of the Delta Chi fraternity house in Columbia. In June 2026, the court ruled in favor of seven remaining defendants and the John and Jane Doe defendants, according to court records.
The family of a Mizzou student found dead on a trip with his fraternity had their wrongful death case dismissed Tuesday.
The case was then fully dismissed without prejudice in July. The claims were dismissed because of procedural reasons, because the court did not determine if the defendants were at fault.
The appeal from Strain's family is set to challenge whether the court was right to dismiss their civil suit.
New court filings show the family's appeal could challenge the court's dismissal of the claim that Strain's fraternity brothers were liable for negligence, agency and abandonment because of their "special relationship" with Strain.
The appeal could also challenge the court's dismissal of the case on the grounds of the defendants' not being legally liable for Strain's intoxication. The filed notice of appeal says that the original allegations from the family did not mention voluntary consumption or how liable someone is for providing alcohol.
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