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Duke, continued.

So, Mr. Nifong's life continues to implode. Well and good. May he find some redemptive value in his self-inflicted travails.

Of course, he's got some more time in court coming... as a defendant in some tort cases.

However... in related news, Duke University announced it had reached an undisclosed financial settlement with the three former lacrosse players falsely accused of rape last year.

Hmmmm.

Duke suspended Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty and Dave Evans after they were charged with raping a stripper at an off-campus party. The university also canceled the team's season and forced their coach to resign.

"We welcomed their exoneration and deeply regret the difficult year they and their families have had to endure," Duke said in a statement announcing the settlement. "These young men and their families have been the subject of intense scrutiny that has taken a heavy toll."

The players' families racked up millions of dollars of legal bills in their defense, and appear likely to file a lawsuit against Nifong.

The players said in a joint statement they hoped the agreement would "begin to bring the Duke family back together again."

"The events of the last year tore the Duke community apart, and forcibly separated us from the university we love," they said. "We were the victims of a rogue prosecutor concerned only with winning an election, and others determined to railroad three Duke lacrosse players and to diminish the reputation of Duke University."

I say there's some faculty who need to have some consequences, too. One can only hope that the players will find some manner to go after those immoderate denizens of the Ivory Tower.

Just sayin'.

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Duke reaches settlement with players from Unpartisan.com Political News and Blog Aggregator on June 19, 2007 9:36 AM

Duke University has reached an undisclosed financial settlement with three former lacrosse players f Read More

4 Comments

John, from what I've read about this, Duke has been very careful to make sure that all university employees (including faculty) will not be held liable as part of the settlement. One commenter/author said that such a clause is "boilerplate" in the settlement form ususally used by universities. It sucks that the gang of 88 won't be held legally liable, but on the other hand it sounds as if the young men got the cost of their defense back. I've seen too many stories where folks successfully defended themselves against unfounded charges, but ended up with nothing at the end of it. Isn't America wonderful?
 
Sigh. Allow me my dreams, Casey, allow me my dreams.
 
Given the legal firepower and facts that they brought to the table, I doubt that any of the three left in a financial hole. I think that the hard part for the G88 is that I doubt that they have any protection for anything they say today (or ever) and that being quiet about the topic may be the hardest thing that they ever have to do.
 
How much did Duke pay. Speculation welcome... 10 million a person plus legal fees??