Eight fraternity brothers will pay a total of 500-thousand dollars to settle their part of an alleged fatal hazing lawsuit brought by the parents of a Chico State University freshman. A judge will now decide whether both the national and local chapter of the Pi Kappa Phi fraternity will go on trial next month in the civil case.

Attorneys for the East Coast-based fraternity argue in court papers that freshman Adrian Heideman is to blame for his own drinking-related death. The local Pi Kappa Phi chapter, which was dissolved after Heideman´s death, argues it can´t be sued because it no longer exists. Eighteen-year-old Heideman died after reportedly choking on his own vomit after a night of drinking at a fraternity initiation ceremony in October 2000.