It ain't over til it's over: now the charge is frame, not hoax.
3 more players file suit in Duke lacrosse case
Uncharged, they cite distress, fraud
Anne Blythe, Staff Writer
News and Observer
12/19/07
Three players not charged in the Duke lacrosse case filed a lawsuit Tuesday against Duke University, fallen prosecutor Mike Nifong, the city of Durham and numerous others they accused of being part of a vast conspiracy.
The suit, filed in federal court in Greensboro by Breck Archer, Ryan McFadyen and Matt Wilson, is the latest civil case to stem from the handling of an escort service dancer's unfounded allegations that she was gang-raped at a lacrosse team party in March 2006.
In the 400-page complaint, Robert Ekstrand, the Durham attorney representing the players, lists 35 causes of action that include negligent infliction of emotional distress and fraud.
The suit lists dozens of defendants, from such high-ranking Duke officials as President Richard Brodhead and health system CEO Dr. Victor Dzau down to the spokeswoman for the Durham police.
"This action arises out of a combination of actors and entities that, from time to time, we refer to ... as the Consortium," the complaint states.
The Consortium, according to the suit, includes Duke's faculty, its police department, its medical center and the sexual assault nurse who worked there, and the city, its police department, the former district attorney and employees associated with his office.
The escort service dancer's accusations occurred at a time when many residents of neighborhoods near the Duke campus were fed up with students' loud late-night parties and boorish behavior.
The complaint describes a conspiracy by the so-called Consortium "to railroad 47 Duke University students ... based upon the transparently false claim of rape, sexual offense and kidnapping made by a clinically unreliable accuser."
In a statement, the university described the lawsuit as "misdirected" and "another unfortunate result of the misdeeds" of Nifong.
"Duke University reasonably relied on the statements of a prosecutor whose path of destruction could be stopped only by the North Carolina Attorney General," David Jarmul, a Duke spokesman, said in the statement. "Duke made some mistakes when the allegations first surfaced in the spring of 2006. The cause of any harm felt by the players, however, clearly lies with parties other than Duke."
In an effort to avoid destructive litigation, Jarmul said in the statement, Duke offered months ago to reimburse attorney fees and other expenses to the unindicted players.
"We were and remain disappointed those offers were not accepted." the statement said. "We will aggressively defend the university in this matter."
McFadyen was suspended from Duke in April 2006 after an e-mail message he wrote appeared in a search warrant in the Duke lacrosse case.
According to court documents, McFadyen sent a message shortly after the infamous team party that started: "[T]omorrow night, after tonights show, I've decided to have some strippers over."
The message went on to talk about how he planned to kill the strippers and cut their skin off, language that Duke President Richard Brodhead described at the time as "sick and repulsive."
Administrators later reinstated McFadyen, saying that while the message was in poor taste, it was sent in jest as a takeoff of "American Psycho," a Bret Easton Ellis novel about a serial killer that was made into a movie and was a team favorite.
In the early weeks after Crystal Gail Mangum's allegations of gang-rape, Duke canceled the remainder of the lacrosse season. The coach, Mike Pressler, was forced to resign.
Three players, Dave Evans, Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann, fought criminal charges for more than a year before they were exonerated and declared innocent by state Attorney General Roy Cooper.
Duke settled with the exonerated players and their families this summer for terms that were not disclosed. The three players demanded $30 million to settle with the city of Durham. When the city declined, Evans, Finnerty and Seligmann filed a federal lawsuit against the city, top administrators, Nifong and others.
Pressler settled with Duke in April, but several months ago he filed suit in Durham County court saying Duke had reneged on details of their private agreement.
Duke responded to Pressler's complaint this month in a court filing, saying that the disagreement should go before an arbitrator.
The university also reached an undisclosed settlement with Kyle Dowd, a former lacrosse player who sued early this year, saying a professor gave him a failing grade because he was a member of the team.
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