<p>What PR if it never gets to trial? Maybe you should offer your services to Duke if this is such an open and shut win. Sounds to me like their lawyers are way to timid.</p>
<p>BTW it appears that the settlement did include money since a spokesman for the school said no endowment money was used but rather money from a legal fund.</p>
<p>"“This was an unprecedented situation, the likes of which we believe will not recur, and it was dealt with accordingly,” said John Burness, Duke’s chief spokesman. “The settlement covers all matters related to the situation to date involving Duke and its employees, including members of the Duke faculty.”</p>
<p>The money came from a legal fund, not an endowment, Burness said, but he would not disclose how much money was in the fund.</p>
<p>Duke trustees, who approved the settlement, either declined to discuss it or could not be reached for comment.</p>
<p>The agreement with the families and the players is the third settlement stemming from the lacrosse case. The university settled with Mike Pressler, the head lacrosse coach forced to resign last spring at the height of the accusations against the players. Recently, the university also settled with Kyle Dowd, a former lacrosse player who complained of receiving a bad grade because of his association with the team."</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/610370.html[/url]”>http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/610370.html</a></p>
<p>Most of the bad PR in a civil suit comes before trial. This way, no suit was ever even filed. Outside of the diehards following the case (like us here) most people probably aren’t even aware of a settlement, let alone a claim of any sort. Negative PR = 0. As to the source of the settlement, well - Mini was right about that part, at least, even if he kind of got it backwards. (Inside joke for followers of the original Duke thread which was accidentally wiped out.)</p>
<p>Interesting title re: shielding faculty by means of a settlement. I don’t see it as shielding anyone from the proddings of conscience. If I have injured anyone with words that have turned out not to be true, I feel a need to apologize and publicly if my words were public.</p>
<p>^</p>
<p>flip side of that being that Duke can in theory more freely examine/investigate the behavior of certain faculty without incurring potential liability upon the school…</p>
<p><a href=“http://media.www.dukechronicle.com/media/storage/paper884/news/2007/06/21/Columns/Due-Process.For.The.88-2917428.shtml[/url]”>http://media.www.dukechronicle.com/media/storage/paper884/news/2007/06/21/Columns/Due-Process.For.The.88-2917428.shtml</a></p>
<p>…would that such happens</p>
<p>I think the professors harbored resentment towards the “lacrosse culture” that they perceived long before the stripper party. They saw this as a means by which to release these feelings. They jumped on the wrong bandwagon.</p>
<p>
Wouldn’t Nifong be popular in jail?</p>
<p>In the TV shows, they would say that exposure of Nifong’s antics in this case taints every case he worked on and that it would trigger an avalanche of appeals.</p>
<p>Yes it is a potential line of appeal. Maybe not as bad as the *****-pump judge but still a problem. If Nifong acted unethically here when else might he have done so? I am sure there are attorneys loking at possible appeals.</p>
<p>The amazing thing is Nifong brought this on himself. He could have dropped this thing long ago and probably escaped personal liability or at least anything more than bad publicity. Instead he chose to drag the case out for as long as possible. Was it vindictiveness, stubborness, or just stupidity? He ruined his own life as well as the lives of everyone else (except the defense lawyers) this case touched including the alleged victim.</p>
<p>As for Duke University it allowed its faculty members to join the rush to judgement and use university facilities including web sites to further their lynch mob tactics. The Duke police had done an investigation and had close ties to the Durham police and knew early on this was a bogus case. That is what would have come out in a civil suit and it would have been very damaging to the school and administration.</p>
<p>Nifong seems to have disappeared! His wife told a sheriff’s deputy that he had taken his guitar and left town, and she didn’t know where he went. This was when he was served with a court order to appear on Thursday for his Removal Hearing in front of Judge Orlando Hudson. Only in this case would it get any stranger…</p>
<p>He didn’t show up for the hearing yesterday, but the attorney assigned to prosecute the case said he had talked with him on Wednesday night, and that he was coming back to Durham this weekend and would resign on Monday. He is still collecting his salary as he avoids the inevitable!</p>
<p>So…where oh where has Mikey been??</p>
<p>Meanwhile, as noted in this article, Smith, the judge from the Lax case, has ordered a criminal contempt hearing for Nifong (indicating that he lied to his court) in July. It will continue to be a bad summer for Nifong–and he certainly brought it upon himself.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.heraldsun.com/durham/4-861007.cfm[/url]”>http://www.heraldsun.com/durham/4-861007.cfm</a></p>
<p>
hmmmmmmm, good question irish…maybe plucking out the “Dueling Banjos” theme from “Deliverance” on his guitar somwhere by an obscure riverbank… ;)</p>
<p>Let’s all hope that his fate is the fate of all prosecutors who withhold evidence that would help the accused or create evidence that harms the accused. In addition, let’s all become as indignant and active when a prosecutor is persecuting others in our society who don’t have the resource to adequately defend themselves.</p>
<p>LOL Berurah! Why, oh why did his dopey wife offer up the guitar detail??? I can envision hundreds of Nigong images photoshopped into all kinds of hysterical situations. I’m thinking of The Naked Cowboy for starters.</p>
<p>Joe Cheshire pegged Nifong exactly right with a post-DHC press conference:
Knowing he was going to be disbarred, Nifong tried to preempt that by offering to resign and by offering to turn in his law license. </p>
<p>But that didn’t work - the hearing still had a finding. Then when he did offer to resign, it was July 13th, nearly one month and $10k in salary later.</p>
<p>But that didn’t work - despite Judge Orlando Hudson’s unbelievable delay in hearing Beth Brewer’s complaint, the governor had apparently had enough, and that spilled over onto Judge Hudson. So there was a hearing on July 28th - which Nifong was out playing his guitar for, bringing up interesting images of a modern-day Nero, though with a career in ruins instead of an empire.</p>
<p>Remarkably - this tactic did work. Hudson is allowing Nifong to resign on his own terms on July 1st. I can only imagine what is so important that Nifong gets to remain until the next month, but I’m sure there’s SOMETHING behind it. Oh well - hopefully that will just give him the financial resources necessary to actually pay the civil penalties awarded to Evans, Finnerty, and Seligmann…</p>
<p>When does the movie come out? This case has had so many twists and turns that it will undoubtedly become a movie. Perhaps Nifong is composing the soundtrack to be played during the credits.</p>
<p>A “modern-day Nero” is a perfect description, DukeEgr.</p>
<p>Skipping the hearing only shows further proof of Nifong’s disregard for a fair and proper legal system.</p>
<p>At least he is getting a taste of what it is like to be raked over the coals. The difference is that he actually did the things he is accused of and the original defendants were raked for things they hadn’t done which is far worse.</p>
<p>Great analogies with Nero, and with the “Deliverance” movie, DukeEgr and berurah!! Love the pictures they conjure up in my head. There are some priceless pictures in the Discussion forum of Liestoppers. One has the whole crew from the Wizard of Oz with the faces of Nifong, CGM, Gottlieb and Brodhead photoshopped in–lol!! :D</p>
<p>Duke Law Prof. Coleman was right when he said months ago that Nifong is mooning the system–I doubt that he will be smirking when Judge Smith puts him behind bars!</p>
<p>Hmm, I can’t find that image from Wizard of Oz but there is a funny “Wanted” poster there with a cartoon image of a guy with guitar that says:</p>
<p>“Have you seen da? Former Durham County Attorney, last seen watching TV at home. Consider him armed with a guitar. Do not approach! Do not ask him to sing a song! Call Judges Hudson and Smith.”</p>
<p>soozie~the discussion forum is a link on the right of the Liestoppers’ site. Once there you need to go to the Nifong/Mangum Hoax, then to the discussion thread “Where is Mikey?”. I think the Wizard of Oz pics start near the end of the second page! </p>
<p>That forum has been a wonderful source of info during these last 18 months! Even a few of the defense attorneys have posted (after the Governor declared the players innocent, of course).</p>
<p>The cartoons that Liestoppers has created for this case are classic! Very witty stuff!!</p>