The Complete Guide to Hazing Laws, Fraternity Accountability, and Legal Recourse for Bridgeport, Texas Families

If Your Child Was Hazed at a Texas University, You Have Rights. We’re Fighting for Them Right Now.

Imagine this scenario, one that could involve a student from right here in Bridgeport or the surrounding Wise County area: Your son accepts a bid to a fraternity at a major Texas university, excited for brotherhood and college memories. Weeks later, you receive a call from a hospital. Your child is in acute kidney failure. His urine is brown. Doctors diagnose rhabdomyolysis—severe muscle breakdown—from extreme, forced physical hazing. They tell you he faces potential permanent kidney damage. The university calls the conduct “deeply disturbing.” The national fraternity headquarters suspends the chapter. But your child’s life is forever changed.

This is not hypothetical. This is the exact reality for Leonel Bermudez, a University of Houston student whose family we represent in an active, $10 million hazing lawsuit against the University of Houston system, Pi Kappa Phi’s national headquarters, its Beta Nu chapter housing corporation, and 13 individual fraternity leaders. The alleged hazing included a degrading “pledge fanny pack” rule, forced overconsumption of food leading to vomiting, hours-long workouts at Yellowstone Boulevard Park, being sprayed in the face with a hose “similar to waterboarding,” and a fateful November 3 session of 100+ push-ups and 500 squats that led to his catastrophic medical emergency.

This guide exists because what happened to Leonel Bermudez can and does happen to students from Bridgeport, Decatur, Runaway Bay, and across Wise County who attend colleges throughout Texas. Hazing is not a rite of passage; it is a crime that inflicts lifelong physical and psychological harm. If you are a parent in Bridgeport whose child has been injured, humiliated, or worse in connection with fraternities, sororities, Corps of Cadets programs, athletics, or other campus organizations, you are not alone. We are The Manginello Law Firm, PLLC (Attorney911, the Legal Emergency Lawyers™). We are Texas-based hazing litigation specialists, and we are fighting this battle right now.

Immediate Help for a Hazing Crisis in Bridgeport or Anywhere in Texas

If you suspect your child is in immediate danger or has been seriously injured:

1. Call 911 for medical emergencies.
2. Then call us at 1-888-ATTY-911 (1-888-288-9911). We provide immediate legal guidance 24/7.

In the first 48 hours, critical steps include:

• Get Medical Attention: Even if your child insists they are “fine,” a medical evaluation creates an essential record. Be explicit with doctors: “My child was hazed.”
• Preserve Evidence: Screenshot group chats (GroupMe, WhatsApp, texts), photograph injuries from multiple angles, save any physical items (clothing, paddles, receipts). Do NOT let your child delete anything.
• Document Everything: Write down everything your child tells you—names, dates, locations, specific acts—while memories are fresh.
• Contact an Attorney: Evidence disappears quickly. Universities and organizations move fast to control narratives. We can help you navigate this from the start.

What NOT to do:

• Do NOT confront the fraternity, sorority, or team directly.
• Do NOT sign any documents from the university or an insurance company.
• Do NOT post details on public social media.
• Do NOT let your child go to “one last meeting” where they could be pressured or intimidated.

Hazing in 2025: What It Really Looks Like on Texas Campuses

For families in Bridgeport, the image of hazing might be shaped by old movies or vague rumors. Modern hazing is systematic, often digitally documented, and psychologically manipulative. It is any intentional, knowing, or reckless act that endangers the mental or physical health of a student for the purpose of joining or maintaining membership in a group. Under Texas law, a victim’s “consent” is not a defense.

The Three Tiers of Modern Hazing

Tier 1: Subtle Hazing & Psychological Control
This establishes power imbalance and sets the stage for escalation. It includes forced servitude (cleaning, errands, 24/7 on-call driving), social isolation from non-members, sleep disruption via late-night “meetings,” and carrying degrading “pledge items.” Digitally, it manifests as mandatory 24/7 group chat monitoring, required location-sharing via apps, and social media policing.

Tier 2: Harassment Hazing
This causes measurable discomfort and harm. It includes verbal abuse and threats, systematic sleep deprivation, forced consumption of unpalatable substances (excessive milk, hot sauce, raw eggs), and forced physical activity framed as “conditioning” but designed to punish and exhaust—like the calisthenics endured by Leonel Bermudez at UH.

Tier 3: Violent & Life-Threatening Hazing
This has high potential for catastrophic injury or death. The most common pattern is forced alcohol consumption through games like “Bible study” or “family tree,” “Big/Little” nights with handles of liquor, and lineups. Other violent forms include physical beatings/paddling, dangerous “tests” like blindfolded tackles, sexualized hazing and assault, kidnapping/restraint, and exposure to extreme elements. A dangerous modern trend is moving this violent hazing to off-campus Airbnbs or rural retreats to avoid university oversight.

Texas Hazing Law & Liability: What Bridgeport Families Need to Know

Texas has specific statutes that govern hazing, and they apply whether the incident occurred in College Station, Austin, Houston, or at a retreat hours from campus. The law is designed to protect students from themselves and from peer pressure.

The Texas Education Code: Chapter 37, Subchapter F

• Definition (§37.151): Hazing is any intentional, knowing, or reckless act, on or off campus, that endangers a student’s mental or physical health for the purpose of initiation into, affiliation with, or maintaining membership in an organization.
• Criminal Penalties (§37.152): 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 can also be charged for failing to report hazing or for retaliating against someone who reports.
• Organizational Liability (§37.153): The fraternity, sorority, or club itself can be prosecuted and fined up to $10,000 if it authorized or encouraged the hazing, or if an officer knew and failed to report it.
• Consent is NOT a Defense (§37.155): This is critical. Even if your child “went along with it,” that does not excuse the conduct legally.
• Immunity for Good-Faith Reporting (§37.154): Students who call for help in an emergency are generally protected from university discipline for related policy violations (like underage drinking).

Criminal vs. Civil Cases: Two Paths to Accountability

• Criminal Cases: Brought by the state (DA’s office). Aim is punishment (fines, probation, jail). Charges can include hazing, furnishing alcohol to minors, assault, and in fatal cases, manslaughter.
• Civil Cases: Brought by the victim and their family. Aim is financial compensation for damages and institutional accountability. This is where we help families recover for medical bills, future care, lost educational opportunity, pain and suffering, and trauma.

These paths can run simultaneously. You do not need to wait for a criminal conviction to pursue a civil case. In fact, waiting can be detrimental as evidence disappears.

Federal Law Overlay: Title IX, Clery, and the Stop Campus Hazing Act

• Stop Campus Hazing Act (2024): Requires colleges receiving federal funds to publicly report hazing incidents and strengthen prevention policies, with full implementation by 2026.
• Title IX: When hazing involves sexual harassment or gender-based abuse, it triggers federal Title IX obligations for the university to investigate and respond.
• Clery Act: Requires universities to report certain crimes, including assaults and alcohol/drug violations that often accompany hazing.

Who Can Be Held Liable in a Civil Hazing Lawsuit?

A thorough investigation seeks to identify every entity with responsibility. Potentially liable parties include:

1. Individual Students: Those who planned, executed, or concealed the hazing.
2. The Local Chapter: As a legal entity, if it exists as a housing corporation or club.
3. The National Fraternity/Sorority Headquarters: For negligent supervision, failure to enforce policies, and having prior notice of dangerous patterns.
4. The University: For negligent supervision, deliberate indifference to known risks, and premises liability.
5. Third Parties: Landlords of off-campus houses, property owners of retreat venues, or alcohol providers (under dram shop laws).

Our job is to build the case against the full “defendant universe,” as we are doing in the Bermudez case, which names the UH Board of Regents, Pi Kappa Phi nationals, the local housing corporation, and 13 individual members.

National Hazing Case Patterns: The Script That Keeps Repeating

The tragedy at UH is part of a national pattern. These cases are not random; they follow predictable scripts. Understanding these patterns is key to proving that organizations had prior notice and failed to act.

The Forced Alcohol Poisoning Script

• Stone Foltz, Bowling Green State (Pi Kappa Alpha, 2021): Pledge forced to drink a bottle of alcohol during “Big/Little” night; died. Result: $10 million in total settlements ($7M from nationals, ~$3M from university).
• Max Gruver, LSU (Phi Delta Theta, 2017): Pledge forced to drink during “Bible study” game; died. Result: Louisiana passed the “Max Gruver Act,” making hazing a felony.
• Andrew Coffey, Florida State (Pi Kappa Phi, 2017): Pledge died from alcohol poisoning at “Big Brother” event. Result: FSU suspended all Greek life.

The Physical & Ritualized Violence Script

• Chun “Michael” Deng, Baruch College (Pi Delta Psi, 2013): Pledge died from traumatic brain injury after a blindfolded, violent “glass ceiling” ritual at a retreat. Result: National fraternity criminally convicted; banned from Pennsylvania for 10 years.
• Danny Santulli, University of Missouri (Phi Gamma Delta, 2021): Pledge suffered permanent brain damage from forced drinking. Result: Settlements with 22 defendants; victim requires 24/7 lifelong care.

The Athletic & Program Hazing Script

• Northwestern University Football (2023-2025): Widespread sexualized and racist hazing allegations led to multiple lawsuits, coach firings, and confidential settlements, proving hazing is not limited to Greek life.

What This Means for Bridgeport Families: The same national organizations involved in these headline-making cases—Pi Kappa Alpha, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Phi Delta Theta, Pi Kappa Phi—have chapters at Texas universities. When a chapter here repeats a known, dangerous pattern, it strengthens claims against the national headquarters for negligent supervision.

The Texas Greek Ecosystem: Where Bridgeport Families Send Their Kids

Students from Bridgeport and Wise County attend universities across the state. Some commute to nearby schools, while others head to major residential campuses. Hazing risks exist across this spectrum.

Universities Relevant to Bridgeport & Wise County Families

Local & Regional Campuses:

• Texas A&M University-Commerce (Hunt County) – A common choice for Northeast Texas students.
• University of North Texas (Denton County) – Within driving distance for many.
• Texas Woman’s University (Denton) – Another major Denton County institution.
• Midwestern State University (Wichita Falls) – Serves North Texas.

Major Statewide Hubs (Where Many Bridgeport Families Send Students):

• University of Texas at Austin – The flagship, with a massive Greek system.
• Texas A&M University (College Station) – Home to a huge Greek life and the Corps of Cadets.
• University of Houston – Where our flagship Bermudez case is underway.
• Baylor University (Waco) – A private university with active Greek life.
• Southern Methodist University (Dallas) – Known for its affluent Greek community.
• Texas Tech University (Lubbock) – A major hub for West Texas.

Each of these campuses has documented hazing incidents. For example, Texas A&M has faced lawsuits over severe chemical burns in a Sigma Alpha Epsilon case and degrading “roasted pig” hazing in the Corps of Cadets. UT Austin maintains a public log of hazing violations. The patterns are consistent.

Public Records Directory: The Texas Greek Organizations Behind the Letters

As part of our Texas Hazing Intelligence Engine, we maintain and investigate a database of every registered Greek organization in the state. This is not speculation; these are public records. For families in the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metro area (which includes Wise County), this ecosystem is vast.

A Snapshot of Greek Organizations Operating in the DFW Metro & Statewide:

• Beta Upsilon Chi Fraternity (EIN: 74-2911848) – 12650 N Beach St #114, Fort Worth, TX 76244
• Texas Kappa Sigma Educational Foundation Inc. (EIN: 74-1380362) – PO Box 470061, Fort Worth, TX 76147
• Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity – Lambda Lambda Chapter (EIN: 52-1278573) – 3837 Simpson Stuart Rd, Dallas, TX 75241
• Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi – Texas A&M University Chapter (EIN: 90-0293166) – 114 Henderson Hall 4233 TAMU, College Station, TX 77843
• Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity – Epsilon Kappa Alumni (EIN: 74-6064445) – 1855 Highway 69 N, Nederland, TX 77627 (Connected to Lamar University)
• Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority – Beta Sigma Chapter (Listed in Cause IQ Metro Data) – Houston, TX (Undergrad chapter)
• Beta Nu Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity Housing Corporation Inc. (EIN: 46-2267515) – 10601 Big Horn Trl, Frisco, TX 75035 (The corporate entity being sued in the UH Bermudez case)

This directory, built from IRS B83 filings and Cause IQ metro data, shows the layered corporate structure behind campus fraternities. There are over 1,400 Greek-related organizations across Texas’s 25 metro areas. When hazing occurs, we know how to trace liability not just to the student members, but to the housing corporations, alumni boards, and national headquarters that hold insurance policies and ultimate responsibility.

Building a Hazing Case: Evidence, Strategy, and the Attorney911 Advantage

Winning a hazing case requires converting trauma into a legally compelling narrative. It requires an investigative depth that most personal injury firms cannot match.

The Evidence That Wins Cases

1. Digital Communications: Deleted GroupMe chats, WhatsApp messages, Instagram DMs, Snapchat stories. We work with digital forensics experts to recover what chapters try to erase.
2. Photos & Videos: Evidence often exists on members’ phones. We use subpoenas and discovery to obtain footage of the hazing events themselves.
3. Internal Organization Documents: Pledge manuals, “tradition” binders, emails between actives planning events, national risk management policies.
4. University Records: Prior disciplinary files on the same chapter, Clery Act reports, internal emails among administrators showing what they knew and when.
5. Medical & Psychological Records: Documentation of injuries (like the critically high creatine kinase levels proving rhabdomyolysis in the Bermudez case), ER reports, and diagnoses of PTSD, depression, or anxiety.
6. Witness Testimony: Other pledges, former members, roommates, and bystanders.

Our Data-Driven Investigation: The Texas Hazing Intelligence Engine

In the Leonel Bermudez case, our investigation didn’t start from zero. We utilized our proprietary database—the Texas Hazing Intelligence Engine—which maps:

• 125+ Texas-registered Greek entities (from IRS B83 data).
• 96 Texas university campuses and their Greek ecosystems.
• 1,423 fraternity/sorority organizations across 25 Texas metros.

This allows us to immediately identify every potentially liable entity: the chapter, its housing corporation (like the “Beta Nu Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity Housing Corporation Inc.” in Frisco), its alumni advisory board, and the national headquarters. We know where to send subpoenas before the opponent knows we’re looking.

How We Overcome Common Institutional Defenses

• Defense: “The Pledge Consented.” Our Response: Texas law §37.155 states consent is no defense. We demonstrate the coercive power imbalance and group pressure.
• Defense: “This Was a Rogue Chapter; National Didn’t Know.” Our Response: We subpoena national’s records to show prior, similar incidents at other chapters, proving “pattern and practice” and constructive notice.
• Defense: “It Happened Off-Campus, Not Our Property.” Our Response: We establish duty through sponsorship, control, and foreseeability. Nationals and universities cannot hide behind geography.
• Defense: “We Have Anti-Hazing Policies.” Our Response: We prove the policies were window-dressing—poorly enforced, with minimal consequences for prior violations.

Why Attorney911 for Texas Hazing Cases: A Unique Combination of Skill and Experience

When your family is facing a powerful university and a national fraternity with deep-pocketed insurers, you need more than a general personal injury lawyer. You need a firm built for complex institutional warfare.

Our Proven Competitive Advantages

1. Insurance Insider Knowledge (Mr. Lupe Peña):
Mr. Peña spent years as a defense attorney for a national insurance firm. He knows exactly how fraternity and university insurers assign value to claims, deploy delay tactics, and argue coverage exclusions. We know their playbook because we used to run it. This insider knowledge is invaluable in maximizing recovery for our clients.

2. Complex Litigation Experience Against Massive Defendants (Ralph Manginello):
Ralph was one of the few plaintiff attorneys involved in the BP Texas City refinery explosion litigation, taking on a billion-dollar corporation. That same fearlessness and strategic depth apply directly to suing national fraternities and university systems. He is admitted to federal court in the Southern District of Texas, where complex institutional cases are often litigated.

3. Multi-Million Dollar Wrongful Death & Catastrophic Injury Results:
We have recovered millions for clients in wrongful death and severe injury cases. We know how to work with economists, life care planners, and vocational experts to build a full picture of lifelong damages, whether for a tragic death or a life-altering injury like permanent kidney damage or traumatic brain injury.

4. Criminal + Civil Hazing Capability:
Ralph’s membership in the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association (HCCLA) means we understand the criminal side of hazing investigations. We can expertly advise clients and witnesses navigating both criminal charges and civil lawsuits, a unique dual capability.

5. Spanish-Language Services:
Mr. Peña is a fluent Spanish speaker, ensuring we can serve the full diversity of Texas families with compassion and clear communication.

We don’t just file lawsuits. We conduct investigations that expose the truth. We fight for accountability that changes cultures and prevents the next tragedy.

Practical Steps & Critical Guidance for Bridgeport Parents and Students

For Parents: A Step-by-Step Guide

1. Recognize the Signs: Unexplained injuries, extreme fatigue, personality changes, secrecy, sudden academic decline, and constant, anxious phone use for group chats.
2. Talk with Compassion: Ask open-ended questions. “I’m worried about you. Is anything happening that makes you feel unsafe or humiliated?”
3. Prioritize Health & Evidence: Seek medical care first. Then, help your child preserve ALL digital evidence—screenshots, photos, videos.
4. Document Your Own Notes: Write down timelines, names, and details your child shares.
5. Seek Legal Counsel Early: Contact us before reporting to the university. We can help you navigate the process strategically to protect your child’s rights and preserve evidence.

For Students: Is This Hazing? What Can You Do?

• The Test: Are you being pressured? Would you do this if there were no social consequences? Is it dangerous, degrading, or secret? If yes, it’s hazing.
• Your Safety Comes First: In a medical emergency, call 911. Texas law and most university policies offer amnesty for those who call for help.
• You Can Leave: You have the legal right to resign your pledge or membership at any time. Send a clear email/text and inform a trusted adult.
• Preserve Evidence: Take screenshots, photos of injuries, and save everything. Do not delete anything out of embarrassment.

Critical Mistakes That Can Destroy a Hazing Case

We’ve detailed these in our video on Client Mistakes That Can Ruin Your Injury Case. The top errors include:

• Deleting evidence (messages, photos).
• Confronting the fraternity/sorority directly, giving them a head start to destroy evidence and lawyer up.
• Signing university “resolution” agreements without an attorney, often for a fraction of the case’s value.
• Posting details on social media, where defense attorneys will mine for inconsistencies.
• Waiting for the university to “handle it internally.” This allows evidence to disappear and statutes of limitations to run.

Your Bridgeport Hazing Lawyers: A Call to Action for Wise County Families

If hazing has impacted your family, you are facing one of the most difficult challenges imaginable. You are up against institutions with powerful lawyers and PR machines. You need a team that is not intimidated, that knows how to investigate, and that fights with the tenacity born of experience.

We are currently leading the charge in one of Texas’s most significant active