The parents of a University of Washington student from Everett killed in a 2002 fall at a fraternity house have settled a lawsuit they brought against the organization.
Donald and Janice Jensen sued the UW Pi Kappa Phi fraternity chapter and the national organization in 2003 for allegedly making alcohol available to minors.
Their son, Brett Akio Jensen, 19, fell from a deck at the fraternity house after participating in drinking game, according to the lawsuit. The fall happened after the fraternity sponsored a “Century Club” party at which members were encouraged to drink a shot of beer a minute for 100 minutes, the lawsuit says.
The settlement was reached in September and announced this week, said Mark Johnson of Seattle, the Jensen family attorney. The terms of the settlement are confidential, and there is no admission of wrongdoing, he said.
However, Johnson said part of the settlement establishes a scholarship in Brett Jensen’s name. The fraternity’s national headquarters also has promised to change its training manuals and develop a section on its Web site detailing all sanctions or probations of local fraternity chapters.
The changes to the Web page were on the fraternity’s national Web site Friday, www.pikapp.org, as was a news release announcing the settlement.
Brett Jensen graduated from Cascade High School in 2001 with a 4.0 grade point average. He was student body president there and received several scholarships, including a Washington Scholar Scholarship that allowed him to attend at any public college in the state tuition-free.
“The Jensens were determined that Brett’s death not be meaningless,” Johnson said. “The Jensens brought the lawsuit to discover the truth about Brett’s death, and the settlement and the scholarship it enables are the Jensens’ memorial to their son; their way of creating something positive and constructive from a terrible tragedy.”
Mark Timmes, chief executive of the fraternity’s national chapter in Charlotte, N.C., said the organization’s thoughts and prayers remain with the Jensen family.
Reporter Scott North: 425-339-3431 or north@heraldnet.com.
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