Hazing Lawsuits & Fraternity Abuse: A Guide for Kilgore Parents and Texas Families

If Your Child Was Hazed at UH, Texas A&M, UT, or Any Texas Campus, You Have Rights

For families in Kilgore and across Gregg County, sending your child to college is an act of hope and pride. It’s watching them leave for the University of Houston, Texas A&M, UT Austin, or another Texas campus with dreams of success and lifelong friendships. But there’s a hidden, brutal reality on these campuses that can turn that dream into a parent’s worst nightmare. Right now, in a Harris County courtroom, we are fighting one of the most serious hazing cases in the country, representing Leonel Bermudez against the University of Houston and the Pi Kappa Phi fraternity’s Beta Nu chapter. The allegations are a stark warning for every Texas family: extreme physical workouts, forced overeating until vomiting, simulated waterboarding, and a “pledge fanny pack” rule filled with humiliating items, all culminating in our client suffering rhabdomyolysis, acute kidney failure, and a four-day hospitalization. His urine was brown. This is happening in Texas right now, and it’s why we created this guide.

This article is for parents in Kilgore, Longview, and all across Texas who suspect their child is being abused in the name of “tradition” or “brotherhood.” We will explain what modern hazing truly looks like, your legal rights under Texas law, the sobering national history of fraternity and sorority abuse, and how our firm uses a powerful data-driven strategy—the Texas Hazing Intelligence Engine—to hold every responsible organization accountable.

Immediate Help for Hazing Emergencies

If your child is in danger RIGHT NOW:

• Call 911 for medical emergencies.
• Then call Attorney911: 1-888-ATTY-911 (1-888-288-9911). We provide immediate help—that’s why we’re the Legal Emergency Lawyers™.

In the first 48 hours:

• Get medical attention immediately, even if the student insists they are “fine.”
• Preserve evidence BEFORE it’s deleted:
  • Screenshot group chats, texts, DMs immediately.
  • Photograph injuries from multiple angles.
  • Save physical items (clothing, receipts, objects).
• Write down everything while memory is fresh (who, what, when, where).
• Do NOT:
  • Confront the fraternity/sorority.
  • Sign anything from the university or insurance company.
  • Post details on public social media.
  • Let your child delete messages or “clean up” evidence.

Contact an experienced hazing attorney: Evidence disappears fast. We can help preserve it and protect your child’s rights. Call 1-888-ATTY-911 for an immediate, confidential consultation.

Hazing in 2025: What It Really Looks Like

Hazing is not just “boys will be boys” or harmless pranks. It is a calculated system of psychological and physical control designed to create loyalty through trauma. For Kilgore families, understanding its modern forms is the first step to recognizing danger.

A Clear, Modern Definition

Hazing is any forced, coerced, or strongly pressured action tied to joining, maintaining membership, or gaining status in a group, where the behavior endangers physical or mental health, humiliates, or exploits. Under Texas law and in the eyes of the court, “I agreed to it” is not a defense when there is a profound power imbalance and fear of exclusion.

The Main Categories of Abuse

1. Alcohol and Substance Hazing: The most common and deadliest. This includes forced chugging, “lineup” drinking games, “Big/Little” nights with handles of liquor, and being pressured to consume unknown substances.
2. Physical Hazing: Paddling, beatings, “smokings” (extreme calisthenics), sleep deprivation, food/water restriction, and exposure to extreme elements. The goal is to break the body to control the mind.
3. Sexualized and Humiliating Hazing: Forced nudity, simulated sexual acts, degrading costumes or positions, and acts with racist, sexist, or homophobic overtones.
4. Psychological Hazing: Verbal abuse, isolation, threats, manipulation, and public shaming designed to erode self-worth and create dependency on the group.
5. Digital/Online Hazing: A 21st-century evolution. This includes 24/7 group chat monitoring with instant response demands, geo-tracking via apps, forced social media posts, and the use of platforms like Snapchat and Discord to humiliate and control.

Where Hazing Happens

While fraternities and sororities are often the focus, hazing is a systemic problem:

• Fraternities and Sororities (IFC, Panhellenic, NPHC, Multicultural Greek Council).
• Corps of Cadets, ROTC, and Military-Style Groups.
• Athletic Teams (from football and basketball to cheer and swim).
• Spirit and Tradition Organizations (like Texas Cowboys or A&M’s Ross Volunteers).
• Marching Bands and Performance Groups.
• Some Academic, Service, and Cultural Clubs.

The common thread is a toxic combination of social status, entrenched tradition, and a code of silence that keeps these practices alive, even when everyone “knows” hazing is illegal.

Law & Liability Framework: Texas and Federal Law

Texas has some of the nation’s clearest hazing statutes, but navigating the legal landscape requires understanding both criminal and civil paths, as well as how federal law interacts.

Texas Hazing Law Basics (Education Code Chapter 37)

Texas law defines hazing broadly as any intentional, knowing, or reckless act, on or off campus, directed against a student for the purpose of initiation or affiliation, that endangers the mental or physical health or safety of that student.

• Criminal Penalties: Hazing is a Class B misdemeanor. It becomes a Class A misdemeanor if it causes bodily injury and a state jail felony if it causes serious bodily injury or death. Individuals who fail to report hazing or retaliate against reporters can also face charges.
• Organizational Liability: The fraternity, sorority, or club itself can be prosecuted and fined up to $10,000 per violation if it authorized or encouraged the hazing, or if an officer knew and failed to report it.
• Immunity for Good-Faith Reporting: To encourage help, a person who in good faith reports hazing is immune from civil or criminal liability resulting from the report. Many universities also have medical amnesty policies.
• Consent is NOT a Defense: Texas Education Code § 37.155 is explicit: a victim’s “consent” is irrelevant. This directly rebuts the most common defense.

Criminal vs. Civil Cases: Two Paths to Accountability

• Criminal Cases: Brought by the state (DA). Aim is punishment: jail, fines, probation. Charges can range from hazing and furnishing alcohol to minors, up to assault, battery, or manslaughter.
• Civil Cases: Brought by the victim or their family. Aim is compensation and accountability. We focus on negligence, wrongful death, negligent supervision, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

These cases can run simultaneously. A criminal conviction is powerful but not required to pursue a civil lawsuit and secure justice for your family.

Federal Law Overlay

• Stop Campus Hazing Act (2024): Requires colleges receiving federal aid to increase transparency in hazing reporting, strengthen prevention, and maintain public data (phasing in through 2026).
• Title IX & The Clery Act: If hazing involves sexual harassment or assault, Title IX obligations are triggered. The Clery Act requires reporting of certain crimes, which can include hazing-related assaults.

Who Can Be Liable in a Civil Hazing Lawsuit?

A thorough investigation aims to identify every entity with responsibility:

1. Individual Students: Those who planned, executed, or covered up the abuse.
2. The Local Chapter: As a legal entity, it can be sued directly.
3. The National Fraternity/Sorority: Headquarters that set policies, collect dues, and supervise chapters. Their knowledge of prior incidents nationwide is crucial.
4. The University: Public universities (UH, A&M, UT) have some sovereign immunity, but can be sued for gross negligence or Title IX violations. Private schools (SMU, Baylor) have fewer protections. Liability hinges on what the school knew and failed to do.
5. Third Parties: Property owners, landlords of off-campus houses, alcohol providers (under dram shop laws), and security companies.

National Hazing Case Patterns: The Scripts of Tragedy

The heartbreaking cases below are not isolated incidents; they are repeating scripts. They show the patterns that Texas universities and national fraternities have seen before—and that juries have punished with multi-million-dollar verdicts.

The Alcohol Poisoning Script

• Timothy Piazza – Penn State, Beta Theta Pi (2017): A bid-acceptance night of extreme drinking led to fatal falls, captured on chapter cameras. Brothers delayed calling 911 for hours. The case led to dozens of criminal charges and Pennsylvania’s Timothy J. Piazza Anti-Hazing Law.
• Max Gruver – LSU, Phi Delta Theta (2017): A “Bible study” drinking game where wrong answers meant drinking. Gruver died with a 0.495% BAC. The Max Gruver Act made hazing a felony in Louisiana.
• Stone Foltz – Bowling Green State, Pi Kappa Alpha (2021): A “Big/Little” night where Foltz was forced to drink a bottle of whiskey. He died of alcohol poisoning. The case resulted in a $10 million settlement ($7M from Pike nationals, ~$3M from BGSU).

The Physical & Ritualized Abuse Script

• Chun “Michael” Deng – Baruch College, Pi Delta Psi (2013): Pledge was blindfolded, weighted down, and repeatedly tackled during a “glass ceiling” ritual at a retreat. He died of traumatic brain injury. The national fraternity was criminally convicted and banned from Pennsylvania for 10 years.

The Athletic Program Script

• Northwestern University Football (2023-2025): Former players alleged systemic, sexualized hazing within the football program. The head coach was fired, and the university faces multiple lawsuits, showing hazing is not confined to Greek life.

What This Means for Kilgore Families: These cases set legal precedents and reveal patterns of forced drinking, violence, delayed help, and cover-ups. When the same patterns appear at a Texas school, they become powerful evidence of foreseeability and negligence.

Texas Focus: Where Kilgore Families Send Their Kids

Parents in Kilgore and Gregg County often have children at local universities like LeTourneau University in Longview, as well as at major hubs across the state. Understanding the landscape at these schools is critical.

University of Houston: The Flagship Case in Our Backyard

Campus Snapshot: A large, diverse, urban campus with a significant Greek life presence. For Kilgore families, UH is a major destination, often just a few hours’ drive away.

The Active Case – Leonel Bermudez v. UH & Pi Kappa Phi:
This is not a historical example. This is a live, $10 million lawsuit we are litigating right now in Harris County. The allegations against the Pi Kappa Phi Beta Nu chapter at UH are a blueprint for severe hazing:

• Humiliation: The “pledge fanny pack” rule with condoms, sex toys, and nicotine.
• Physical Torture: Sprints, bear crawls, wheelbarrow races, being sprayed in the face with a hose “similar to waterboarding.”
• Forced Consumption: Made to ingest milk, hot dogs, and peppercorns until vomiting, then forced to sprint.
• The Breaking Point: A November 3rd “workout” of 100+ push-ups and 500 squats led to rhabdomyolysis and acute kidney failure. Bermudez was hospitalized for four days.
• Institutional Response: Pi Kappa Phi national suspended the chapter on Nov. 6, 2025. Members voted to surrender their charter on Nov. 14, 2025. UH called the conduct “deeply disturbing.”

This case underscores that the most severe abuse is happening now, at Texas schools, and requires immediate, aggressive legal action. You can read the initial coverage in the Click2Houston report on UH Pi Kappa Phi hazing case and the ABC13 coverage of Leonel Bermudez’s UH hazing lawsuit.

How a UH Case Proceeds: Jurisdiction typically lies with Harris County courts. Investigations involve UHPD, Houston PD, and deep discovery into national fraternity records.

Texas A&M University: Tradition and Risk

Campus Snapshot: Home to a massive Greek system and the renowned Corps of Cadets. Its culture of tradition, while a point of pride, can sometimes mask high-risk behaviors.

Documented Incidents:

• Corps of Cadets Lawsuit (2023): A cadet alleged degrading hazing including being bound in a “roasted pig” position with an apple in his mouth. The lawsuit sought over $1 million.
• Sigma Alpha Epsilon Chemical Burns (2021): Pledges alleged being doused with a mixture including industrial-strength cleaner, causing severe chemical burns requiring skin grafts. The chapter was suspended.

What A&M Parents Should Know: The combination of a powerful Greek system and the Corps creates multiple potential avenues for abuse. The university’s disciplinary processes for these entities are complex.

University of Texas at Austin

Campus Snapshot: A flagship institution with a highly visible Greek life community and a wide array of student organizations.

Transparency and Pattern: UT maintains a public Hazing Violations Log, which is more transparent than many schools. Entries reveal patterns:

• Pi Kappa Alpha (2023): New members directed to consume milk and perform strenuous calisthenics. Chapter placed on probation.
• Various spirit groups and fraternities cited for forced workouts, alcohol hazing, and punishment-based activities.

Why This Matters: This public log is a gift to investigators. It provides documented proof of prior incidents, establishing a pattern of knowledge that the university and organizations knew or should have known about the risks.

Southern Methodist University & Baylor University

Private School Dynamics: As private institutions, SMU and Baylor have their own conduct processes and potentially different liability landscapes. Both have faced high-profile hazing incidents:

• SMU’s Kappa Alpha Order was suspended in 2017 for paddling and alcohol hazing.
• Baylor’s baseball team saw 14 players suspended in 2020 following a hazing investigation.

For families at these schools, navigating the intersection of institutional reputation, religious identity (at Baylor), and legal accountability requires specific expertise.

The Texas Hazing Intelligence Engine: Our Data-Driven Advantage

For parents, fraternities and sororities can seem like monolithic, untouchable entities. We demystify them. Our firm maintains a proprietary investigative tool—the Texas Hazing Intelligence Engine—built from public records. This allows us to map the entire ecosystem of Greek organizations in Texas, so we know exactly who to hold accountable long before we file a lawsuit.

Public Records Directory: The Organizations Behind the Letters

Texas is home to a dense network of legally registered Greek entities. For example, public IRS records show over 125 Texas-registered organizations classified as fraternities, sororities, and related house corporations. In the broader East Texas and Dallas-Fort Worth metro areas, which are relevant to Kilgore families, there are hundreds more.

To illustrate the depth of our directory, here are examples of the types of organizations we track: