Two URI alumni settle in pub crawl lawsuit

02/11/09 - A wrongful death lawsuit against two University of Rhode Island alumni involved in a 2004 pub crawl ended yesterday with both parties settling out of court.The parents of Francis Marx V, a Fairfield University student killed in 2004 under disputed circumstances, brought the suit against Loren Welsh, 26, of Branchburg, N.J., and Jarrad Rocheleau, 26, of Cumberland, R.I.

The incident occurred in Newport in the early morning hours of May 20.

Marx, 21, of Richboro, Pa., had attended a Wheaton College formal dance at Rosecliff Mansion in Newport with his girlfriend, Wheaton student Anna Cochrane.

Around 1 a.m., Marx, Cochrane and several friends who had also attended the formal were walking along Thames Street near the Perry Mill Wharf intersection. The group became involved in an altercation with some URI students, including Welsh and Rocheleau.

The URI students were among approximately 300 who had purchased tickets to participate in a pub crawl, and were waiting to board busses after bars closed.

Both the URI students and the group from the Wheaton formal had been drinking, according to sworn depositions entered in the case, and Marx's blood alcohol level was .249 at the time of his death, according to the toxicology report.

During the course of the altercation, Marx landed on his back in the street, where he was crushed under the rear wheels of a bus that had been transporting students on the pub crawl.

Witnesses offered differing accounts as to whether he fell accidentally or was pushed.

According to the pretrial memorandum filed by Marx's parents, Welsh was belligerently drunk and started the confrontation, slapping Marx and others.

Rocheleau, the statement said, "got wrapped up in a wrestling grip with [Marx]."

According to the memorandum, Marx was pushed backwards.

"He had momentum," the document stated. "He looked like a cartoon character flailing his arms after being propelled backwards."

Both Rocheleau and Welsh said in sworn depositions from 2007 that they had not touched Marx.

Rocheleau testified that he did not make physical contact with anyone except Welsh, whom he attempted to restrain. Welsh did hit someone but he could not be sure whom, Rocheleau said in the deposition, and he did not see how Marx fell.

Welsh claimed she was not intoxicated at that point in time, but also testified that she had several drinks that night.

She allegedly did not come into contact with Marx, and did not see him fall or know that he had fallen until after he was struck by the bus, she said in the transcript.

Marx's parents, Maureen and Francis Marx IV, accused Welsh and Rocheleau of causing their son's death, and sought $5 million in punitive and compensatory damages.

Closing arguments were to be held yesterday in Providence Superior Court, but both plaintiffs had reached undisclosed settlements with Marx's family by yesterday morning.

Lawyers for both plaintiffs expressed satisfaction with the direction the trial was headed prior to the settlement.

"We are very confident with the way the case went, and the resolution was reflective of that," said Welsh's attorney, Mark Dolan.

Lauren Wilkins, an attorney representing Rocheleau along with colleague Ron Langlois, expressed a similar opinion, and said her client was relieved to have ended the suit.

"It put an end to this incident," Wilkins said I think that he was confident that we had a fair jury."

Neither Marx's parents, nor their lawyer could be reached for comment in time for publication.

URI alumnus Joseph DeCandido organized the 2004 pub crawl; the university did not sanction it. University officials had attempted to dissuade its organizers without success, according to a Feb. 22, 2007 Cigar article entitled "Wrongful death lawsuit depositions from 2004 pub crawl start this week."

In reaction to the incident, the town of Newport later passed a ban on pub crawls.