The Complete Guide to Hazing Lawsuits & Legal Rights for Mitchell County, Texas Families

If you are a parent in Mitchell County, your worst fear is receiving a call that your child has been hurt at college. The image is searing: your son or daughter, full of promise, now lying in a hospital bed because of what they were forced to endure to “belong.” This is not a hypothetical fear. It is a reality playing out right now on Texas campuses, involving the very universities Mitchell County families entrust with their children’s education. Hazing is not a relic of the past; it is a present and dangerous crisis, evolving to become more hidden, more psychologically damaging, and increasingly linked to catastrophic injuries like kidney failure and traumatic brain injury.

This comprehensive guide is written specifically for Mitchell County parents, grandparents, and families. We will cut through the secrecy and institutional rhetoric to explain what hazing truly looks like in 2025, the full scope of your legal rights under Texas law, and how the patterns of abuse at national fraternities manifest right here at schools like Texas Tech University, the University of Houston, and Texas A&M. If your child has been hurt, you are not alone, and you have powerful legal tools for accountability. We are The Manginello Law Firm, PLLD, operating as Attorney911, and we are currently leading some of the most serious hazing litigation in the state. We serve families across Texas, including right here in Mitchell County and throughout the West Texas region.

IMMEDIATE HELP FOR A HAZING CRISIS

If your child is in danger or seriously injured RIGHT NOW:

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

In the first 48 hours, you must:

1. Secure Medical Care: Get your child to an ER or doctor immediately. Conditions like rhabdomyolysis (severe muscle breakdown) can be fatal if untreated.
2. Preserve Digital Evidence: Screenshot every group chat (GroupMe, WhatsApp, iMessage), text, and social media post related to the incident. Photograph all injuries from multiple angles.
3. Document Everything: Write down a timeline with dates, times, locations, and names of everyone involved, while memories are fresh.
4. Contact an Attorney: Call us at 1-888-ATTY-911 before the evidence disappears. Universities and fraternities move quickly to control the narrative.

DO NOT:

• Let your child delete any messages or “clean up” their phone.
• Confront the fraternity, sorority, or its members directly.
• Sign any documents from the university or an insurance company.
• Post details about the incident on public social media.

Hazing in 2025: What It Really Looks Like in Texas

For Mitchell County families, hazing may conjure images of outdated movie tropes. The reality is far more sinister, systematic, and digitally enabled. Hazing 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. In Texas, a student’s “consent” is not a legal defense.

Modern hazing tactics fall into three escalating tiers:

Tier 1: Subtle Hazing & Digital Control
This is the grooming phase, designed to establish absolute control. It includes forced, constant availability via group chats (GroupMe, Discord), mandatory “check-ins,” being on call for errands at all hours, carrying humiliating “pledge packs,” enforced dress codes, and social isolation from non-members. The goal is to break down independence and ensure compliance through sleep deprivation and psychological pressure.

Tier 2: Harassment Hazing
This involves acts that cause emotional and physical distress. It includes verbal abuse and berating, forced calisthenics (“smokings”) to the point of collapse, sleep deprivation for days, being forced to consume excessive amounts of food or non-alcoholic substances until vomiting, public humiliation, and exposure to extreme cold or filthy conditions.

Tier 3: Violent & Life-Threatening Hazing
This is where students suffer catastrophic, life-altering injuries or death. It encompasses:

• Forced Alcohol Consumption: Coerced drinking games, “family tree” rituals, handle races, and lineups where pledges are forced to drink until unconscious.
• Physical Brutality: Paddling, beating, “glass ceiling” tackling rituals, and extreme physical workouts that cause rhabdomyolysis—a deadly muscle breakdown that floods the kidneys with toxins.
• Sexualized Abuse: Forced nudity, simulated sexual acts, and sexual assault.
• “Retreat” Hazing: Moving the most violent acts to off-campus Airbnbs or rural properties to avoid university oversight.

This is not theoretical. We are currently representing Leonel Bermudez, a University of Houston student who nearly died after enduring precisely this pattern from the Pi Kappa Phi Beta Nu chapter. His ordeal included a humiliating “pledge fanny pack,” forced overnight driving duties, being sprayed in the face with a hose “similar to waterboarding,” and being forced to consume milk, hot dogs, and peppercorns until vomiting. It culminated in a November 3, 2025, “workout” where he was forced to do over 100 push-ups and 500 squats. He developed rhabdomyolysis and acute kidney failure, passed brown urine, and was hospitalized for four days with a critically high creatine kinase level. This $10 million lawsuit names the University of Houston, Pi Kappa Phi’s national headquarters, the local housing corporation, and 13 individual fraternity leaders. The chapter has since been shut down.

This case is a Texas-specific blueprint for the hazing crisis. The same national organizations named in that suit operate chapters across the state, including at universities where Mitchell County students enroll.

Texas Hazing Law & Your Family’s Legal Rights

Mitchell County families operate under a specific legal framework. Texas has strong anti-hazing statutes, but navigating them requires experienced counsel.

Texas Education Code, Chapter 37 (The Hazing Law):

• Definition: Hazing is any intentional, knowing, or reckless act that endangers the physical or mental health of a student for the purpose of initiation into, affiliation with, or maintaining membership in any organization. This applies on or off campus.
• 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 can also be charged.
• Critical Protection: Consent is NOT a Defense. Texas law (Sec. 37.155) explicitly states that the victim’s consent is irrelevant. Courts understand the power imbalance and coercion inherent in hazing.
• Immunity for Good-Faith Reporting: Students who call 911 or report hazing in good faith are protected from criminal and civil liability related to that reporting.

Civil Liability: The Path to Accountability & Recovery
A criminal case, brought by the state, seeks punishment. A civil lawsuit, which your family can bring, seeks to compensate for the harm done and force institutional change. The two can proceed simultaneously. In a civil hazing case, we can seek damages from multiple parties:

1. The Individuals: The members who planned, carried out, or covered up the hazing.
2. The Local Chapter: The fraternity or sorority chapter as an entity.
3. The National Organization: The fraternity or sorority headquarters (like Pi Kappa Phi national). They often have deep-pocketed insurance policies and can be liable for negligent supervision.
4. The University: Public universities like Texas Tech or Texas A&M (which have some sovereign immunity hurdles) and private schools can be sued for negligence, Title IX violations, or deliberate indifference to a known risk.
5. Third Parties: Property owners, housing corporations, and alcohol providers.

Federal Laws That Apply:

• Title IX: If hazing involves sexual harassment or assault, or creates a hostile environment based on sex, federal Title IX obligations are triggered.
• The Clery Act: Requires universities to report certain crimes, including hazing-related assaults.
• The Stop Campus Hazing Act (2024): Requires increased transparency and public reporting of hazing incidents by universities receiving federal funds.

National Hazing Cases: The Foreseeable Patterns That Reach Mitchell County

National fraternity headquarters cannot claim ignorance. Decades of tragedies have established clear, foreseeable patterns of abuse. When a chapter at a Texas school repeats these patterns, it strengthens claims against the national organization for negligent supervision. Mitchell County families should know these landmark cases:

• Timothy Piazza (Penn State, Beta Theta Pi, 2017): Died from traumatic brain injuries after a forced drinking “bid acceptance” night. Brothers delayed calling 911 for hours. Resulted in the Timothy J. Piazza Anti-Hazing Law in Pennsylvania, criminal convictions, and significant civil settlements.
• Stone Foltz (Bowling Green State, Pi Kappa Alpha, 2021): Died from alcohol poisoning after being forced to drink a bottle of liquor. The family secured a $10 million settlement ($7M from the national fraternity, ~$3M from the university). The chapter president was held personally liable for $6.5 million.
• Max Gruver (LSU, Phi Delta Theta, 2017): Died from alcohol poisoning after a “Bible study” drinking game. His death led to Louisiana’s Max Gruver Act, a felony hazing statute.
• Danny Santulli (Univ. of Missouri, Phi Gamma Delta, 2021): Suffered permanent, catastrophic brain damage from forced drinking. His family settled with 22 defendants, highlighting the multi-party liability in these cases.
• Andrew Coffey (Florida State, Pi Kappa Phi, 2017): Died from alcohol poisoning at a “Big Brother” event, leading to a system-wide Greek life suspension at FSU.

These are not isolated incidents. They are a playbook. The forced drinking, the delays in seeking help, the cover-ups—these are standard operating procedures in a broken system. When we investigate a hazing case for a Mitchell County family, we subpoena the national fraternity’s records to prove they knew these risks and failed to stop their Texas chapters.

The Texas & Mitchell County Greek Ecosystem: A Data-Driven Look

Where do Mitchell County students go, and who is responsible? We maintain a proprietary Texas Hazing Intelligence Engine, built from public records, to map the entire landscape. This investigative database is what we use to build cases.

Texas Universities Relevant to Mitchell County Families:
Mitchell County students attend a mix of regional schools and major statewide universities. Based on our data and geographic proximity, key institutions include:

• Texas Tech University (Lubbock) – A major destination with a large Greek system.
• Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (Multiple locations, including presence in the Abilene metro area).
• Abilene Christian University, Hardin-Simmons University, McMurry University (Abilene metro).
• West Texas A&M University (Canyon, near Amarillo).
• Statewide Powerhouses: University of Houston, Texas A&M University, University of Texas at Austin, Baylor University, and Southern Methodist University—schools where many Texas families, including those from Mitchell County, send their children.

The Organizational Backbone: Public Records of Texas Greek Entities
Behind every fraternity chapter on campus are legal entities—house corporations, alumni associations, educational foundations—that hold insurance, own property, and can be held liable. Using IRS B83 data, we track over 125 Texas-registered Greek organizations. Here are examples relevant to the broader region and statewide schools Mitchell County students attend:

• Frank Heflin Foundation, EIN 20-3507402, Canyon, TX 79015 – A Phi Delta Theta alumni fund connected to West Texas A&M.
• Kappa Sigma – Mu Camma Chapter Inc, EIN 13-3048786, College Station, TX 77845 – A Texas A&M entity.
• Beta Nu Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity Housing Corporation Inc, EIN 46-2267515, Frisco, TX 75035 – The housing corp for the now-shuttered UH chapter we are suing.
• Texas Kappa Sigma Educational Foundation Inc, EIN 74-1380362, Fort Worth, TX 76147 – A statewide foundation.
• Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, EIN 90-0293166, College Station, TX 77843 – Present at Texas A&M.
• Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, EIN 36-4091267, Waco, TX 76710 – A Baylor University-area entity.
• Alpha Sigma Phi Fraternity Inc, EIN 47-5370943, Houston, TX 77204 – A University of Houston chapter entity.

Metro-Level Activity: The Abilene and Lubbock Hubs
Mitchell County is part of the Abilene, TX metropolitan area. According to our Cause IQ metro data, there are numerous Greek and honor societies operating in this region, including multiple chapters of the Delta Kappa Gamma Society for educators, Psi Chi honor societies at local universities, and Alpha Phi Omega service fraternity chapters. The nearby Lubbock metro, home to Texas Tech, shows 59 Greek-related organizations. This dense network means the organizational footprint of Greek life touches our region directly.

National Brands with Texas Paper Trails
Our data cross-referencing proves that national brands have multiple Texas entities. For example, Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority appears in IRS data with entities in Waco and Commerce, and in Cause IQ data with chapters in Beaumont and Houston. The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi has IRS-listed chapters at nearly every major Texas university. This overlap shows how we track a single national organization across its various Texas manifestations for liability purposes.

Building a Powerful Hazing Case: Evidence, Strategy & Damages

For Mitchell County families, winning a hazing case demands an investigative approach that peers behind the curtain of secrecy. This is where our experience and systematic strategy make the difference.

Critical Evidence We Pursue:

1. Digital Forensics: Deleted GroupMe chats, Snapchats, Instagram DMs, and text messages. We work with experts to recover what chapters try to erase.
2. National Fraternity Records: Through discovery, we obtain the national headquarters’ “risk management” files, prior incident reports on the chapter, internal communications, and policy manuals to prove they knew the risks.
3. University Records: Prior disciplinary reports on the same organization, Clery Act reports, emails between administrators, and campus police reports.
4. Medical Evidence: Comprehensive records documenting the injury—from ER toxicology screens proving forced intoxication to specialist diagnoses of conditions like rhabdomyolysis or PTSD.
5. Witness Testimony: Coordinating with other pledges, former members, roommates, and bystanders who are often afraid to come forward alone.

Recoverable Damages for Your Family:
The law allows families to seek compensation for both economic and non-economic harms:

• Economic Damages: All medical bills (past and future), lost wages, costs of psychological counseling, lost tuition from interrupted education, and diminished future earning capacity if the injury is permanent.
• Non-Economic Damages: Compensation for physical pain, emotional suffering, mental anguish, humiliation, and loss of enjoyment of life.
• Wrongful Death Damages: In the unspeakable event of a death, families can seek funeral costs, loss of financial support, and damages for grief, loss of companionship, and emotional trauma.
• Punitive Damages: In cases of particularly egregious or reckless conduct, courts may award punitive damages to punish the defendants and deter future behavior.

Practical Guide for Mitchell County Parents & Students

For Parents – Warning Signs & Immediate Steps:

• Signs Your Child May Be Being Hazed: Unexplained injuries or illnesses, extreme fatigue, sudden secrecy about group activities, withdrawal from family/friends, personality changes (anxiety, depression), defensive attitude about the organization, constant texting/checking phone with anxiety, declining grades.
• What to Do: 1) Prioritize medical care. 2) Help them preserve digital evidence—screenshot everything. 3) Write down a detailed timeline. 4) Contact an experienced hazing attorney before reporting to the university. 5) Avoid confronting the organization directly.

For Students – Your Rights & Safety:

• You Have the Right to Be Safe: No tradition is worth your life or health.
• How to Exit Safely: You can resign your pledge or membership at any time. Send a clear text or email to the chapter president stating your resignation. Inform a trusted university official (Dean of Students) simultaneously.
• Reporting: You can report anonymously through campus channels or the National Anti-Hazing Hotline (1-888-NOT-HAZE). Texas law offers protections for good-faith reporters.
• Evidence is Key: If you are being hazed, secretly document what you can—audio recordings (Texas is a one-party consent state), notes with dates/times/names, and screenshots.

Critical Mistakes That Can Harm a Case:

1. Deleting evidence to “move on” or avoid embarrassment.
2. Confronting the fraternity/sorority before speaking with a lawyer, which triggers their cover-up protocol.
3. Signing university-offered resolution agreements that may waive your right to sue.
4. Posting about the incident on social media, which defense attorneys will scour for inconsistencies.
5. Waiting too long. Evidence disappears, witnesses scatter, and the Texas statute of limitations (generally two years) continues to tick.

Why Mitchell County Families Choose Attorney911 for Hazing Cases

When your family is in crisis, you need more than a lawyer; you need advocates who understand the intricate power dynamics of universities and national fraternities, and who have the resources to fight them. From our Houston office, we serve and have recovered multi-million-dollar results for families across Texas, including in Mitchell County and the West Texas region.

Our Proven Advantages in Hazing Litigation:

1. Active, High-Stakes Texas Hazing Litigation: We are not theorists. We are currently lead counsel in the Leonel Bermudez v. University of Houston & Pi Kappa Phi lawsuit—a $10 million case involving rhabdomyolysis, kidney failure, and the shutdown of a chapter. This is not a historical case; it is our active proof of capability right now in Texas courts.

2. Insurance Insider Knowledge: Our attorney, Mr. Lupe Peña, spent years as a defense attorney for national insurance companies. He knows exactly how fraternity and university insurers evaluate claims, fight coverage, and employ delay tactics. We use this insider knowledge to counter their strategies and maximize your recovery.

3. Complex Institutional Litigation Experience: Managing partner Ralph Manginello was one of the few attorneys involved in the BP Texas City explosion litigation, taking on a billion-dollar corporation. We apply the same rigorous, un-intimidated approach to suing national fraternities and large universities. We are admitted to federal court and handle Title IX and multi-defendant cases.

4. The Texas Hazing Intelligence Engine: We don’t start from scratch. We maintain a proprietary database of over 1,400 Greek organizations in Texas, built from IRS records, university filings, and public data. We know how to find the housing corporations, alumni associations, and insurance policies that others miss.

5. Dual Civil & Criminal Expertise: Mr. Manginello’s membership in the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association (HCCLA) means we understand the criminal exposure in hazing cases. We can strategically advise on the interaction between criminal investigations and civil lawsuits, including advocating for witnesses or former members who want to cooperate.

6. A Mission for Accountability & Prevention: We take these cases not just to secure compensation, but to force institutional change that protects the next generation of students from Mitchell County and beyond. As Mr. Peña stated in the UH case: “If this prevents harm to another person…Let’s bring this to light. Enough is enough.”

Your Next Step: A Confidential, No-Obligation Consultation

If you suspect your child has been hazed at any Texas university—whether it’s Texas Tech, Texas A&M, UT Austin, or any other campus—you have the right to answers, accountability, and justice.

We invite you to contact The Manginello Law Firm, PLLD (Attorney911) for a free, completely confidential consultation. During this meeting, we will:

• Listen compassionately to your story.
• Review any evidence or documentation you have.
• Explain your family’s legal rights and options under Texas law.
• Outline our investigative process and strategy.
• Answer all your questions about the legal process, timelines, and costs.

We work on a contingency fee basis for personal injury cases, meaning you pay no attorneys’ fees unless we secure a recovery for you.

Contact Us Today:

• 24/7 Helpline: 1-888-ATTY-911 (1-888-288-9911)
• Local: (713) 528-9070
• Email: ralph@atty911.com | lupe@atty911.com
• Website: https://attorney911.com
• Se habla Español: Mr. Lupe Peña provides fluent Spanish-language legal services.

You do not have to navigate this nightmare alone. Let us use our experience, data, and dedication to fight for your child and your family.

Legal Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Reading this does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every case is unique, and outcomes depend on specific facts and applicable law. If you have a legal issue, please consult with a licensed attorney directly. Attorney911 is a trademark of The Manginello Law Firm, PLLD. Principal office in Houston, Texas.