Suit Claims University, Sorority and Party Host Are Liable in Student’s 2013 Death
Shortly after midnight on Oct. 18, 2013, 19-year-old Ethan P. Connolly, a sophomore at the University of Delaware, was fatally hit by a truck while walking across Del. 896. Earlier, he had attended an off-campus sorority party near where he was hit and toxicology reports showed he had alcohol in his system when he died. In a lawsuit, his parents want a New Castle County Superior Court judge to hold the university, the sorority and those that hosted the party liable for his death. “Had (the defendants) executed their duty to make sure Ethan traveled back to campus on the bus, he would not have perished, drunk or not,” the lawsuit states. The legal filings claim the university and other defendants were negligent in efforts to prevent underage drinking and protect those attending the sorority party from the danger of such drinking. The lawsuit asks a jury to award unspecified compensatory and punitive damages to Connolly’s estate. …