Party Hosts Sued Over Reveler’s Death

After filing a lawsuit against the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department, the family of a young man beaten to death at a Meiners Oaks party last fall now is suing the party’s hosts.

James and Ann Dowey, parents of Nicholas Dowey, and the victim’s two brothers, Colin and Sean, filed a negligence and wrongful death lawsuit seeking unspecified monetary and punitive damages in Ventura County Superior Court last week.

The lawsuit, like the federal civil rights suit the family filed last year against the Sheriff’s Department, stems from a rowdy party in September 1997 at the home of Robert Hromadik and his parents, Randall and Peggy.

The Doweys say in the lawsuit that the Hromadiks failed to ensure the safety of their guests--as many as 150 people, the suit alleges--and were negligent in allowing alcohol to be served to minors and for allowing minors to drink. The Hromadiks could not be reached for comment.

Twice called to the party, sheriff’s deputies warned the Hromadiks to control their guests, warnings the Doweys’ suit alleges the hosts ignored. When deputies arrived a third time, they found Nicholas Dowey bleeding from what witnesses have said was a blow to his head from a baseball bat or club.

Witnesses have also said that deputies hit the already injured Dowey with a metal flashlight and subdued him with pepper spray. The lawsuit against the Sheriff’s Department alleges that deputies used excessive force and denied Dowey medical attention.

Dowey, then a 21-year-old student at Cal State Northridge’s Ventura campus, died the day after the party. In June, an internal investigation by the Sheriff’s Department found no evidence of wrongdoing.

Ann Dowey declined to comment Tuesday. Her family’s attorney, Richard Hamlish, was unavailable.