A hazing death-focused negligence suit against Cornell University will go forward, after an upstate Supreme Court judge denied the institution's dismissal motion in which it had argued that holding it liable for the student's death after it had worked to control fraternity hazing would be "profoundly counterproductive" and "upset" New York state's "clear law."

In a decision that detailed the alleged facts surrounding the death of Cornell University freshman Antonio Tsialas, along with the arguments of both his plaintiff-parents and the defendant Cornell, but which went into scant analysis, Tompkins County Supreme Court Justice Gerald Keene turned back the university's 27-page dismissal brief and 15-page response-to-opposition brief.