A Haverhill couple is filing a wrongful death lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston in connection with the 1981 death of their 16-year-old son, who died when a car driven by admitted sex abuser Rev. Ronald H. Paquin overturned on a highway in Tilton, N.H.

The couple, Sheila and Harold Francis, say they long believed that their son James' death was the result of a tragic but innocent automobile accident while James and three of his friends were on a fall weekend outing with Paquin - the family's ``trusted'' parish priest.

But this Saturday, the couple learned there is credible evidence Paquin molested their son before and even during that fateful trip.

``I admire the victims for coming forward,'' said Sheila Francis at a news conference held last night at her attorney's office. ``I have now learned that Jimmy was a victim. The grieving begins again. We'll wipe our tears again. I will give Jimmy the eulogy we did not hear back in November of 1981.''

The Francises' lawyer, Jeffrey A. Newman of Newman & Ponsetto of Marblehead, represents nine other alleged victims of Paquin, including some who were taken to New Hampshire, plied with alcohol, and molested in the same manner as James, Newman said.

In the first wrongful death suit to emerge as a result of the scandal roiling the archdiocese - to be filed today in Suffolk Superior Court - the Francis family alleges the church knew of Paquin's proclivities for a decade before their son died, yet did nothing to keep him from contact with boys. Humberto Cardinal Medeiros was in charge of the archdiocese during that period.

``The Francises have learned that Paquin was a molester and the archdiocese was aware of this fact, and that their son would be alive if the archdiocese had acted on this information,'' Newman said. He also said the archdiocese could have prevented the accident had the church's leaders addressed the pedophilia allegations against Paquin earlier.

``The Boston Archdiocese had extensive knowledge of Ronald Paquin's predatory pedophilia for 10 years before this boy's death,'' said Newman. ``They had knowledge he was taking boys to New Hampshire and plying them with alcohol. Had they taken a few normal human steps . . . this boy's death would not have occurred.''

The Francises allege in their suit that Paquin plied the four boys on the trip with alcohol the night before the Nov. 23, 1981, crash; that he got drunk himself that night; and that he molested and slept in the same sleeping bag as James hours before the horrific crash that left James crushed to death and the rest of Paquin's party injured.

Newman says Paquin fell asleep at the wheel before the crash due to lack of sleep.

Paquin admitted in a Herald interview in January that he has a long history of molesting children. He is expected to be indicted in Essex County for molesting a 26-year-old former altar boy in 1990 at St. John's Parish in Haverhill. Newman represents that victim as well.

Sheila Francis said her son volunteered to be a companion for the elderly, loved hockey and had dreams of joining the state police. ``Believe me when I tell you it was the worst thing a parent can do,'' Francis said of her son's death and funeral.