Former UT-Austin student sues fraternity for more than $1M after attack, suit states

A former University of Texas exchange student is suing Sigma Alpha Epsilon Texas Rho Chapter for more than $1 million for injuries he sustained from an assault by fraternity members at a party last year, according to the lawsuit.

The suit, which was filed last month and first reported by The Daily Texan, alleges that the defendants "breached the duty of reasonable care" by not monitoring alcohol consumption and neglecting to monitor the party, maintain security or intervene in the attack. The Sigma Alpha Epsilon Texas Rho Chapter House Corp., the chapter's adviser and president are also named as defendants in the lawsuit.

Currently, Texas Rho is not affiliated with nor a registered student organization at UT, a university spokesperson confirmed to the American-Statesman.

Julian Ascione, the plaintiff, who attended UT as an exchange student from Australia to study biology, suffered significant injuries during the attack, including a dislocated leg, broken ligaments, fractured tibia and broken nose, according to the suit. His injuries have required four surgeries, though more are likely, the suit states, and kept him from completing his spring 2023 school semester.

According to the suit, in early March 2023, Ascione and his date attended an "open party" at the Texas Rho Chapter's fraternity house on Pearl Street in West Campus. Fraternity members asked Ascione to leave, and members agreed to let Ascione wait until his girlfriend returned from the bathroom to go, according to the lawsuit.

Afterward, a separate group of four to five fraternity members, who appeared visibly intoxicated according to the suit, then demanded Ascione leave. The group moved to the parking area and attacked the plaintiff, the lawsuit states. They did not call an ambulance; Ascione called one himself.

The defendants have all denied the allegations in court filings, and none returned emailed requests for comment. The lawyer for the chapter house and the chapter's adviser declined to comment, citing the ongoing litigation. The chapter and chapter president's attorney did not return a request for comment.

Ascione is seeking more than $1 million but less than $5 million in damages.

The lawsuit alleges that the defendants "owned, possessed and controlled" the house, and thus are responsible for damages. It also states the conduct of the defendants constituted "gross negligence."

Clayton Rawlings, who is representing Ascione, said his client's injuries were "extremely serious." The case is expected to be tried in state court in Harris County, where two of the defendants resided at the time of the action. A court date has not yet been set, he said, and they have requested a jury.

"We're in the preliminary phase, we'll be doing the discovery, and once both sides have exchanged all the paper discovery, then we'll go take some depositions," he said.

The fraternity members accused of carrying out the attack were not named as defendants in the lawsuit. Rawlings said that they might be identified during the discovery phase of the suit and subsequently added to the lawsuit.

Sigma Alpha Epsilon Texas Rho's troubled past

Sigma Alpha Epsilon's Texas Rho chapter was founded at the University of Texas in 1882. In recent years, it has been the subject of multiple lawsuits and investigations.

The national Sigma Alpha Epsilon organization suspended the UT chapter in 2017 for "health-and-safety concerns and an inability to adhere to the national organization’s standards and expectations" after it investigated a tip it received through its anonymous hazing hotline. The national fraternity said it would reinstate Texas Rho when all its members at the chapter at the time of the violation had graduated.

The university followed suit with its own investigation, and in May 2018 it canceled the Texas Rho chapter's registration as a student organization for at least four years for hazing.

The university described the chapter's hazing activities as including requiring new members to consume alcohol and ingest gross/unwanted substances; subjecting them to physical brutality; engaging them in boxing/fights; confining them to uncomfortable spaces; degrading and demeaning them; and subjecting them to servitude.

During the fall 2018 semester, the suspended UT chapter continued its fraternity activities under the Texas Rho name, prompting the national organization to sue the chapter for trademark infringement, trademark dilution and unfair competition for continuing to use its registered marks and insignia, KVUE reported. The lawsuit was settled in 2019, the Daily Texan reported.

Outside of Texas Rho, Sigma Alpha Epsilon chapters at Texas A&M University in 2021 and in Alabama in 2023 have been sued for significant injuries caused during hazing activities.

Sigma Alpha Epsilon officially reinstated the Texas Rho chapter to its fraternity on April 21, 2023, according to a post on the chapter's Instagram page.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Former UT-Austin student sues Sigma Alpha Epsilon Texas chapter