Families of three JMU students who died in crash after fraternity event file wrongful death lawsuits

HENRICO COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) -- The families of three James Madison University students who died in a car crash after a Pi Beta Chi fraternity event have filed wrongful death suits against dozens of members of the fraternity. The lawsuits say the defendants kept crucial information from law enforcement and that the young men’s deaths were “foreseeable.” On the night of February 2, 2023, then 19-year-old Campbell Fortune was driving four men back to JMU’s campus after a Pi Beta Chi (PBX) rush event at a gentlemen’s club in Hardy County, WV, when he crashed into a tree going 95 miles per hours.  Nineteen-year-old John “Luke” Fergusson of Richmond, 19-year-old Nicholas Troutman of Henrico County, and 20-year-old Joshua Mardis of Williamsburg all died at the scene. One other passenger, Baird Weisleder, and the driver, Fortune, were airlifted to the hospital with severe injuries but survived.   Fortune was initially charged with three counts of negligent homicide, but after accepting a plea deal, he was sentenced in April of 2025 to 90 days in jail for one count of negligent homicide and speeding. The families of the young men who died told 8News they believed it was a “fair and thoughtful” sentence. Fortune did not have alcohol in his system at the time of the crash, but our previous reporting, based on court documents, said witnesses saw Fortune smoking marijuana and inhaling "whippets" before driving back to campus. “Whippets" is a slang term for nitrous oxide which blocks oxygen from getting to the brain and causes similar effects to drinking alcohol like dizziness. Law enforcement also found whippet contraband in the car following the crash. The families are now suing 29 fraternity members and the association’s founder for $150 million. According to court documents, the defendants saw Fortune engaging in intoxicating activity before driving but still let him get behind the wheel. It also states the fraternity’s “failure to exercise reasonable care...dramatically increased the risk of harm, injury, and death” to the three victims.   The lawsuits were filed on June 29 in Henrico Circuit Court against the Pi Beta Chi Fraternity and Cross Keys Society, the founder of Cross Keys Society John C. Marshall and fraternity members Max Olsen, Wiley Levine, Jack Mcghee, Barrett Barker, Ryan Cataldo, Nathan Henley, Michael Caminiti, Jacob Byrd, Bryson Raquet, Jackson Whitescarver, Vincent Coriaty, Logan Leigh-Manuel, Matthew Faircloth, Luke Michaels, Xavier Jankowski, Brady Johnson, Patrick Burhop, Jacob Maust, Trent Smith, Marc Macomson, Cole Farmer, Chase Robinson, Cole Dier, Kyle Sawyer, Zach Neal, Grayson Gadams, Quinn Gagne, Garrett Stephanako and John Hess. 8News contacted 25 of the 30 defendants who did not respond to our request for comment.   The Troutman, Mardis and Fergusson families are being represented by The Fierberg National Law Group, a law firm that specializes in hazing and wrongful death lawsuits, and the Cantor Grana Buckner Bucci Virginia Trial Firm. An attorney shared a message from the three families, saying “We remain committed to seeking full justice for our sons and families.” The lawsuit states the young men traveled roughly 45 minutes from JMU’s campus to the Paradise City gentlemen’s club as part of the fraternity’s final event of the semester’s rush process and had assigned the newest members to serve as designated drivers to and from the club.   A majority of the men listed in the lawsuits, like Campbell Fortune, served as other designated drivers on the night of the crash, and allegedly witnessed Fortune become intoxicated.   The lawsuit alleges that some of the designated drivers scrambled to find vehicles to provide transportation to the club as asked by more-senior members of the fraternity. This led to some of them borrowing cars they were not familiar with driving, including Fortune, who drove another member’s father’s car.  While the three young men who died were all sophomores, Joshua Mardis was not yet a member but considered a “rushee,” or a potential member of the fraternity. The lawsuit states members of the fraternity purchased 1.75-liter handles of alcohol for the rushees to be “compelled, forced, and pressured to consume throughout the night.”  The lawsuit states Mardis had consumed so much alcohol that he was “rendered unconscious,” and had to be carried out of the club by other members. He was then put into the car without a seatbelt. Fortune began the drive back to campus with Mardis in this condition.  “Unbeknownst to [Troutman, Fergusson and Mardis], while he was inside the club...his designated driver [Campbell Fortune] and the other so-called designated drivers were partying in the club’s parking lot," according to the lawsuit. Despite knowing Fortune had become intoxicated, “those fraternity members allowed [Fortune] to begin the return trip to JMU," the suit also said. The lawsuit alleges that some of the other designated drivers were intoxicated as well.   The lawsuit states that less than 12 hours after the crash on the morning of February 3, 2023, the then president of Pi Beta Chi advised all members in a GroupMe chat that John Marshall, the society’s founder, was contacting insurance and an attorney. The president wrote, “I know this is going to come across as sh***y but we have to keep our wits about us in terms of outsiders trying to see what happened. The message we need to convey is that it was a car accident and not a rush event. We don’t own or control the roads.” The lawsuit filed by the Troutmans and Fergussons both state that over an 18-month period following the filing of criminal charges against Fortune, the parents repeatedly reached out to members of the fraternity to come forward and share what happened on the night of the crash, but that they “declined to cooperate or provide any statement to law enforcement.”   Court documents say Marshall shared a message with the fraternity's president in 2024, who then relayed said message to the rest of the fraternity:  “If a PBX member saw [Fortune] doing whippets and smoking weed, and the PBX member still allowed them to ‘sober drive’ afterward, then that means PBX had knowledge that [Fortune] was not actually a sober driver, and so PBX was complicit in his non-sober driving and therefore partly responsible for the accident,” the message reads. “This would lead to a civil suit against PBX and its members.”  The lawsuit also alleges that Marshall encouraged fraternity members to “seek an agreement with [Fortune] where you won’t testify against him if he won’t testify against you.”  Cross Keys Society was founded by Marshall in 2015 after PBX was kicked off JMU’s campus in 2013 for reports of underage drinking, a student falling off a roof and breaking her hip and spine and other allegations of hazing. The lawsuits state Marshall “ran and otherwise participated in negligent, wrongful, reckless, and willful and wanton acts and omissions that caused the death of [Troutman, Fergusson and Mardis.]” No court dates have been scheduled at the time of this reporting.   The three families’ statement provided by attorneys can be read here in full:  “Last January, we filed lawsuits against the leadership and members of the James Madison University Chapter of the Pi Beta Chi Fraternity to hold the fraternity, its members, and its founder accountable for their role in the deaths of our sons, Josh, Luke, and Nicholas.  For procedural reasons, we nonsuited portions of the lawsuits this January.  We recently refiled those nonsuited portions to put them back on the Court’s active docket. We remain committed to seeking full justice for our sons and families.”