The family of Maxwell Gruver, an LSU student who died in a Phi Delta Theta hazing incident in 2017, filed a federal lawsuit saying the school and fraternity knew for years that pledges were being abused and that the 18-year-old's death could have been avoided if the institutions had taken steps against "masculine rites of passage." The wrongful death lawsuit, which seeks $25 Million in damages, names the university, a housing corporation, the fraternity and more than a dozen of its members. Gruver, of Roswell, Georgia, died from alcohol poisoning and aspiration, a day after participating in a "Bible study" hazing ritual. Investigators say he was forced to drink 190 proof liquor after he incorrectly answered questions about the fraternity. Attorneys allege in the lawsuit that fraternity members instructed pledges to take a Gruver, who was unresponsive, to the hospital the day after the "Bible study" and to lie about finding him inside the fraternity house. The Gruver family attorneys are Douglas Fierberg and Jonathon Fazzola of The Fierberg National Law Group, PLLC and Donald Cazayoux Jr. and J. Lane Ewing Jr. of Cazayoux Ewing Law Firm.