Mother of boy who died at party files wrongful-death suit against hosts and their parents

Reporting from Orinda, Calif. — The mother of a boy who collapsed at an unsupervised high school party and later died has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the hosts, their parents and a teenager who purchased alcohol with false identification.

Marianne Payne, mother of Joe Loudon, 16, said in the lawsuit that his death last April was caused by negligence on the part of the students who provided alcohol and of the hosts’ mother and stepfather, Isabel and Scott Hamilton, who were out of town when the party was held without their permission.

Loudon had been at the party for less than two hours when he collapsed in a hallway in front of a handful of students. A girl revived him with CPR, and he was helped to a bedroom to rest. Left alone for several minutes, Loudon vomited and choked. Frantic partygoers then administered CPR and called 911, but it was too late.

An autopsy revealed only a small amount of alcohol in Loudon’s system. Authorities said they believed the boy may have suffered from an undiagnosed heart ailment.

William Loudon, the boy’s father, refused to join his former wife in the suit. It named Loudon as a “nominal” defendant for the purpose of extinguishing any claims he could have in future litigation and “so that all the proper heirs are before the court.”

The suit seeks unspecified monetary compensation on the grounds that Payne has been deprived of her son’s comfort and moral and financial support, as well as economic damages for the boy’s burial.

The party’s hosts, Patrick Gabrielli, 18, then a high school junior and a teammate of Loudon, and his sister, Alexandra, then 19, a college student, have been fined and sentenced to probation and community service for providing alcohol to a minor.

A younger teenager who used the fake ID to purchase the alcohol also was charged and sentenced, but authorities refused to release any information because he is legally a minor.

maura.dolan@latimes.com