A national fraternity, its former University at Buffalo chapter and three fraternity members have agreed to pay $665,000 to the family of a UB student who died in 2019 after an alleged fraternity hazing.
An order filed Aug. 15 in State Supreme Court in Westchester County ends the litigation over the death of UB freshman Sebastian Serafin-Bazan against Sigma Pi fraternity in Nashville, the Epsilon-Omicron chapter that was based at UB from 1979 to 2020, the University Heights landlord that owned the property where Serafin-Bazan was reportedly hazed, and three fraternity members.
A separate wrongful death claim brought by Juana Correa, Serafin-Bazan’s mother, against New York State and the university remains active in the state Court of Claims.
Serafin-Bazan died in Buffalo General Medical Center on April 17, 2019, five days after he was found unresponsive on the lawn outside a house on Custer Street, in the city’s University Heights neighborhood, where members of Sigma Pi fraternity lived. He was 18.
The settlement was broken down as follows: $274,000 to be paid by Sigma Pi fraternity and its insurers; $206,000 from Epsilon-Omicron chapter; $125,000 from fraternity member Joshua Harasimowicz; $40,000 from fraternity member Ethan Grauer; $5,000 from fraternity member Ian Buchman; and $15,000 from UB Heights Housing LLC, owner of the Custer Street house where several fraternity members lived.
Attorneys for Correa, Sigma Pi and the Epsilon-Omicron chapter did not respond to requests for comment on the case, nor did Sigma Pi Chief Executive Officer Jonathan M. Frost.
Correa claimed that hazing caused her son’s death. She had sought $800,000 in damages, according to court papers.
Police sources told The Buffalo News at the time that fraternity brothers had ordered the freshman to perform exercises inside the house late on the evening of April 11, 2019, and into the early morning of April 12. Serafin-Bazan, believed to be…
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