Sacred Heart University has reached a settlement in a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the parents of a student who died in 2017 after choking in an eating contest.
According to an Associated Press report, the mother of Caitlin Nelson, a 20-year-old junior from Clark, New Jersey, agreed to undisclosed terms with the Fairfield-based school. Nelson choked on pancakes during a charity fundraising eating contest held by a sorority. She died three days later.
Neither the school nor the attorney representing the Nelson family would publicly comment on the settlement.
Sacred Heart filed a lawsuit against Chartwells, its food services vendor, alleging that any negligence in Nelson”™s death belonged to that company. Chartwells denied wrongdoing in Nelson”™s death and the settlement required the school to withdraw its cross-complaint against its vendor.
