Lauren Spierer lawsuit: Defendants say there's no proof she's dead

BLOOMINGTON – One of the men named in a civil lawsuit filed by the family of Lauren Spierer says the lawsuit should be dismissed.

Michael Beth’s attorney filed a motion in federal court Thursday saying that his client didn’t “breach a duty” to the missing IU student on the night she was last seen. The motion also argues that the Spierer family “cannot prove damages as there is no evidence of Spierer’s death or any injury to her.”

The suit was filed against Beth, Corey Rossman and Jason “Jay” Rosenbaum, who are believed to be the last three people to see Spierer on the night she disappeared. They’re accused of negligence that led to Spierer’s presumed death.

The motion argues that Beth owed “no duty” to Spierer, saying he “observed Spierer in an intoxicated state” and witnessed Rossman encourage Spierer to join him at a bar. Beth later returned to his residence, which he shared with Rossman, to find the pair together. The motion said Beth became concerned about Spierer’s safety and tried to get her to sleep on a couch. After she refused, he escorted her to the residence of Rosenbaum and left her with him.

Rosenbaum was the last person to see Spierer.

The motion argues that the college student’s disappearance was not foreseeable, saying that the “Plaintiffs’ complaint (against Beth) fails to provide any reason why Beth should have foreseen Spierer’s disappearance.” It was Rosenbaum, not Beth, the motion states, who allowed Spierer to leave unattended.

The motion also argues that the Spierer family “cannot prove that Spierer was injured or killed.” The motion cites Indiana law, which says a person can’t be presumed dead unless they’ve been “inexplicably absent for a continuous period of seven years.” The filing argues that Spierer’s case does not meet that standard, as she disappeared in June 2011.