The family of a California State University of Northridge (CSUN) student has filed a lawsuit against the university on Wednesday after the student died during a grueling fraternity hike. The family said the young man's death was "senseless" and "easily preventable," according to the Associated Press.
Nineteen-year-old Armando Villa died a year ago after he collapsed on an 18-mile hike planned by fraternity Pi Kappa Phi. The group was hiking in sweltering heat with very little water and inadequate footwear, according to an investigation conducted by the university, concluding that hazing was responsible for Villa's death.
Since Villa's death, CSUN authorities have banned the local chapter of Pi Kappa Phi and suspended all Greek pledging after reports emerged of hazing at other fraternities. But the actions have done little to hold anyone accountable for Villa's death, said his family.
"It's been a year since Armando's death and we still have no answers," Betty Serrato, Villa's mother, said in a statement. "No one has stepped forward to tell us what happened to my son. I am angry and terribly sad," KTLA reported.
The suit has been filed against CSUN, university president Dianne Harrison, the Pi Kappa Phi fraternity as well as the 14 members of the organization who were with Villa on the hike. The lawsuit alleges that the fraternity members forced pledges to participate in the hike during hot weather without proper supplies, according to Los Angeles Daily News.
"The university and the national parent fraternity sanctioned this local fraternity. They had adequate warnings that this fraternity did not do things the right way," said Douglas Aberle, the lawyer representing Villa's mother and stepfather, Joseph Serrato.
The fraternity has previously been suspended for offenses committed early last year but was then reinstated by the university, said Aberle.
"Both the university and the national chapter should have read this as a warning sign and eliminated the local chapter," he added. "But Pi Kappa Phi national has a history of inadequately supervising its local chapters. Armando and his family have paid the price for their negligence."
The suit, filed in a Los Angeles court, is seeking unspecified damages from the defendants.
