Lauren Spierer Update: Man sued by missing Indiana student's parents wants case dismissed
(CBS/AP) BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The attorney for a man being sued for wrongful death by the parents of missing Indiana University student Lauren Spierer is seeking to have the case dismissed because there's no proof the woman has been injured or is dead.
Greg Garrison represents Michael Beth in the civil lawsuit. He filed the new motion Thursday in federal court in Indianapolis.
Garrison says Spierer's two-year disappearance isn't enough to presume she's dead. WRTV-TV reports Indiana law requires a person to be "inexplicably absent for a continuous period of seven years" to be presumed dead.
Spierer was last seen after a night of drinking in June 2011. Beth claims he tried to get her to sleep on his couch that night and when she refused, he escorted her to another man's apartment.
The parents of the missing woman claim that Beth, Corey Rossman and Jay Rosenboum, provided Lauren with alcohol even after it was clear that she was already intoxicated, according to lohud.com.
The site reports Rossman's lawyer doesn't deny that he bought her drinks and carried her to the townhouse he shared with Beth, but says his client and the others had no legal requirement to ensure that she returned home safely.
"There is a distinction under the law between saying that a person should do something and saying that a person has s legal duty to do something," the defense lawyer reportedly said.