Mother's lawsuit: UNH student who died after going missing was served 17 drinks

DURHAM — The mother of late University of New Hampshire student Vincenzo “Vinny” Lirosi, who died in what was ruled an accidental drowning nearly two years ago, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit. The suit names defendants, including Scorpion’s Bar and Grill, the Sigma Chi fraternity and numerous students who were fraternity brothers.

Robin Lirosi, a Whitman, Massachusetts resident, alleges her deceased 22-year-old son was served 17 drinks in less than four hours at Scorpion’s, then was invited to a party hosted by the fraternity, where he was assaulted by numerous members who were attempting to remove him from the house. The suit alleges these event occurred in the hours before he went missing in December 2021.

The lawsuit was filed in Strafford County Superior Court on Thursday afternoon, according to Shaheen & Gordon, P.A., the firm representing Lirosi’s mother.

“Lirosi was a bright, ambitious student who transferred into UNH in the spring of 2021,” the lawsuit reads. “He was majoring in history, and was loved by his family, friends, and professors alike. On approximately December 4, 2021, Lirosi died tragically and unnecessarily after an evening shaped by the misconduct of the named defendants.”

The other defendants in the suit include seven of the campus fraternity’s brothers, another university student at the time of Lirosi’s death, the national Sigma Chi organization and the corporation that owns the Main Street building where Lirosi was allegedly assaulted.

What lawsuit alleges happened night Vinny Lirosi went missing

The suit alleges Lirosi began the evening of Dec. 3, 2021 by meeting with six of his friends, none of whom are named as defendants, at the apartment of one of his friends. The group then left the apartment for a party hosted by the student named in the lawsuit at Scorpion’s Bar and Grill.

Between 8:49 p.m. on Dec. 3 and 12:32 a.m. on Dec. 4, the suit alleges, Lirosi purchased the following drinks at the bar: four Corona beers, five “house rums,” three green tea shots, a draft India Pale Ale beer, three “house vodkas,” and one “house whiskey.”

“Over the course of just three (3) hours and 43 minutes, Lirosi purchased seventeen (17) different alcoholic drinks in nine (9) different transactions,” the suit claims.

The lawsuit states that the New Hampshire Liquor Commission found Lirosi to have consumed a minimum of nine alcoholic beverages in that four-hour span, adding the bar’s co-owner lied about its bartenders using a two-second pour count.

“Free pouring is much more dangerous than using jiggers/measuring devices and creates a much higher risk of overserving. For years, Scorpion’s has earned a reputation of over pouring and overserving,” the lawsuit reads.

The student who hosted the party at the bar is accused of paying off bouncers to not enforce the business' policies, the suit says.

“Multiple witnesses reported to investigators that (the student) paid bouncers a lot of money to not enforce the rules and regulations at Scorpion’s, including not cutting patrons off if they were too intoxicated,” the suit states.

“At the time of the underlying event, Scorpion’s actively encouraged Lirosi and others to consume substantial amounts of alcoholic beverages,” the suit continues. “At the time of the underlying event, Scorpion’s served alcohol to Lirosi in a manner that was so continuous and excessive that it created a risk of death by alcohol poisoning. Following Lirosi’s death, Graham Camire, co-owner of Scorpion’s, and some of his employees exchanged text messages on a group thread regarding Lirosi’s intoxicated condition, with the instruction to not discuss Lirosi’s presence at Scorpion’s with anyone. Mr. Camire asked if Vin was visibly intoxicated and two separate witnesses confirmed that he was.”

Lirosi was allegedly last seen at the bar at 12:40 a.m. on Dec. 4, 2021 and was invited to the Sigma Chi fraternity’s house by a co-defendant who was in the fraternity. There, the “visibly intoxicated” Lirosi appeared to be unbuckling his pants to urinate in the fraternity’s kitchen, and several fraternity brothers approached him to remove him, the suit says.

One of the brothers, a co-defendant in the suit, is alleged to have pushed him and knocked Lirosi to the floor. “Lirosi, still significantly impaired mere minutes after his arrival at the house he was invited to, was now surrounded by Sigma Chi brothers who were attempting to forcefully remove him, while assaulting him in the process,” the suit says.

Lirosi struck one of the brothers, which then led to four of the brothers punching and kicking him, the suit states, alleging Liropsi was dragged outside to the parking lot.

“Lirosi was forced to stumble into the woods, visibly intoxicated, battered, and dazed from repeated blows to his head and body without a phone, and no person from Sigma Chi took any steps to ensure his safety,” the lawsuit claims.

Sigma Chi was temporarily suspended by the university in the wake of Lirosi’s death. The chapter at the time released a statement claiming Lirosi gained access without permission to its “welcome home" event for a member who was returning from military service.

“We are saddened to learn of the death of Vincenzo Lirosi, an uninvited guest who died after leaving an event held by some members of our chapter," that statement read. “We extend our sincere condolences to his friends and family. We are fully cooperating with authorities as they investigate the circumstances of his death."

Durham police were alerted to Lirosi’s disappearance in the early morning hours of Dec. 4, 2021. After an extensive search, his body was found in a marshy area off Coe Drive in Durham, around 36 hours after he’d last been seen alive.

“Lirosi was found, mostly submerged, by the New England K9 Search and Rescue team in a small body of water off of Coe Drive,” the lawsuit alleges. “His body was frozen and covered in a thin layer of ice.”

Mother seeks jury trial in lawsuit

The late student was a sophomore at the time of his death. His mother is demanding a jury trial.

The lawsuit accuses the defendants of negligent service and reckless service against Scorpion’s Bar and Grill, negligence against the university Sigma Chi chapter, and battery and assault against the four brothers alleged to have assaulted Lirosi. The student who hosted the party at the bar is also accused of negligence.

Attorney Leah Cole Durst with Shaheen & Gordon reported Thursday all the defendants were notified of the lawsuit.

“Not only was every defendant notified but they were all given the opportunity to do the right thing and resolve the claim before we initiated litigation,” she said. “None of the named defendants chose to accept responsibility.”

Durst added that many of the fraternity brothers named in the suit have since graduated from the university.

“This process has been extremely challenging for the family throughout,” she said in a prepared statement. “The family is disappointed that no criminal charges have been filed despite the clear harmful conduct that occurred on the night in question. The Lirosi family is anxious to seek justice for their son and brother, and to bring about accountability for all of the named defendants who harmed Vin. Further, if anyone has been overserved at Scorpion’s or assaulted at UNH Sigma Chi or by Sigma Chi members, please reach out to Shaheen & Gordon, as we attempt to understand the magnitude of these issues in the hopes of preventing future harm.”

Attempts to reach representatives of Scorpion’s Bar and Grill and the Sigma Chi fraternity were not immediately successful Thursday afternoon. Likewise, attempts to reach UNH officials, including Michael Blackman, dean of students, were not immediately successful.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Mother of UNH student Vinny Lirosi sues over his death