Posted on 08/27/2007 2:36:16 PM PDT by maggief
DURHAM - The spectre of massive civil lawsuits has put the future of a special committee probing the police’s handling of the Duke lacrosse case in limbo.
The city’s insurance provider advised last week that continued investigation by the panel could provide ammunition for a civil lawsuit, Mayor Bill Bell confirmed Monday.
Falsely accused Duke lacrosse players David Evans, Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann have hired powerful attorneys in anticipation of suing the city.
Seligmann has retained Barry Scheck, a prominent New York City lawyer whose high profile clients include O.J. Simpson and British nanny Louise Woodard. Evans and Finnerty have hired Brendan Sullivan Jr. and Chris Manning of Washington D.C.
The former players’ attorneys will meet with City Attorney Henry Blinder and other legal advisers next week.
Based on the outcome of those meetings, City Council members then will decide whether to allow the committee to continue or to suspend their activities indefinitely, Bell said.
“The nut of it is they’re suggesting we might want to stop right now,” he said.
Durham has a $5 million liability policy with The Insurance Company of the State of Pennsylvania with a $500,000 deductible.
A clause in the city’s insurance policy says that there will be no coverage if the city “ elect[s] a third party to investigate, defend or settle such claims or suits.”
(Excerpt) Read more at newsobserver.com ...
I don’t expect anything to happen to the Gang of 88. I would like to see Brodhead forced out but I doubt that will happen either.
http://www.heraldsun.com/durham/4-876191.cfm
Insurance company wants city to halt independent probe into lacrosse case
By Ray Gronberg, The Herald-Sun
August 28, 2007 12:06 am
EXCERPT
The policy, released Monday by the city, also specifies that AIG and its subsidiaries would treat an incident like the lacrosse case as one occurrence, meaning its exposure would stop once a judgment or settlement hits the $5 million mark.
Claims “arising out of continuous, related or repeated” acts “shall be treated as one,” the policy says. That would appear to protect the firm from having to pay separately for each player.
The policy specifies that city officials have to cooperate with the insurer in the course of dealing with any lawsuit. It also says the firm has veto rights over the membership of the city’s legal defense team — a major point, given the prestige of the lawyers on the players’ side.
Moreover, the policy says the city has to “pursue all rights of contribution or indemnity” against anyone else who might be liable. The phrase is a legalism that refers to the possibility of seeking compensation from any third parties who contributed to wrongful acts.
City administrators issued a formal statement Monday confirming that the players’ lawyers had been in touch and that they’d asked officials to preserve all documents related to the case.
The statement said City Attorney Henry Blinder’s office had issued the requested preservation order.
It is not clear whether the players are willing to settle. City officials believe at least one — possibly Seligmann — is inclined to seek his day in court.
//
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/crime_saf...ory/684662.html
Review of lacrosse case halted
Durham doesn’t want to provide ammunition for lawsuits
Matt Dees and Joseph Neff, Staff Writers
DURHAM - The specter of massive civil lawsuits has stopped the work of a special committee probing the Durham Police Department’s handling of the Duke lacrosse case.
The city’s liability insurance provider said continued investigation by the committee could provide ammunition for a civil lawsuit by superstar lawyers.
City officials released a statement Monday saying that the committee is in “a holding pattern” until its attorneys meet next week with the counsel hired by the former lacrosse players falsely accused of rape by an escort dancer hired for a team party in March 2006.
The city didn’t release the letter from The Insurance Company of the State of Pennsylvania, a subsidiary of American International Group Inc., and efforts to reach the company were unsuccessful.
State Attorney General Roy Cooper earlier this year exonerated former Duke University players David Evans, Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann. It has long been anticipated they would sue the city once Cooper declared them innocent.
Seligmann hired Barry Scheck, a New York City lawyer who helped represent O.J. Simpson in his murder trial. Scheck also started the Innocence Project, which has used DNA evidence to free more than 100 people from prison. David Rudolf, a Chapel Hill attorney who represented former Carolina Panthers receiver Rae Carruth in a murder trial, is serving as local counsel for Scheck.
Evans and Finnerty have hired Brendan Sullivan Jr. and Chris Manning of Washington. Sullivan defended former HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros and represented Lt. Col. Oliver North during the Iran-Contra congressional hearings.
The former players’ representatives will meet next week with the city’s legal staff.
(snip)
Wonder what effect this will have on his re-election campaign? Maybe none, Durhamites supported Nifong last Nov. :o/
One look at the mayor’s face, and you can tell he is a dirty crook! LOL!
The same reasoning needs to be applied to send the Gang of 88 packing, or at least demoted.
Barry Scheck was a flop in the Louise Woodard case. Only the judge, in an incredible show of favoritism towards Scheck, overruled the jury to save him from an embarrassing loss. With the many lawyers available, Reade Seligmann should have retained someone more competent. OJ case does not count since that jury would have acquitted OJ even if there were a video of him slashing his victims.
Yep.
Sadly, that seems to go with the territory in our increasingly incestuous legal system. In his bookOutrage, Vincent Bugliosi took a chainsaw to the media-created image of the "dream team," (as well as the judge and prosecution). I suspect Seligmann's selection of Sheck was largely due to Sheck's role in founding "The Innocence Project," (and its limited but high profile successes) and his celebrity as much as anything else. Right or wrong, the reputation a Scheck brings to the case goes a long way in the court of public opinion, if not the actual court of law.
Wish someone would dig into the city contracts given the non-profit “community development company,” UDI, where he is Exec. VP and COO.
But it should be easily enough if a jury looked at it rationally.
Yeah, we all dug into this last year, all sorts of dirt was uncovered, and the local newspapers wouldn’t even look at it.
Pathetic.
Oh, I don't know. Were I one of these young men, I might consider the destruction of my reputation for the forseeable future to be worth enough to cause the University some pain. Five million from an insurance payout won't do that. I'd shoot for five percent of the University endowment, and after paying the lawyers I'd give 90 percent of what was left to women's outreach and charities.
The point is not to get rich, but to ensure that no school ever again does what Duke did to these three.
Good point...I’d forgotten. Thanks.
What I would rather have in lieu of the money was Nifong in jail for as long as he wanted me in jail.
Still, I'd figure my reputation was repaired with his disbarrment.
What I'd want with regard to money is reimbursement for my legal costs, reimbursement for the aggravation (what my lawyers got paid would do nicely), and reimbursement for any other objective cost (such as that year's tuitition and room and board; lost vacation time for family members etc).
All that should be easily handled for less than $1.66 million.
Concerning other things like those 88 profs who declared my guilt, the city should not be on the hook for them.
And, anyway, in lieu of money I'd rather see them fired.
I think it would be cheeper for the insurance carrier to “tender the policy limits” and be done with the case.
With all my heart, I hope this sends a message to overzealous and morally bankrupt L.E., D.A.s and Judges who think this is a game or who are bored with their usual suspects and would like to meet new friends from high places.
Nifong rode the wave with the NAACP, Durham Committee on the Affairs on Black People, and various AA community “leaders,” IMO. (Nifong met the NAACP at Union Baptist on Sunday, March 26, 2006.) My hope is the civil case goes to trial and exposes the corruption within the courthouse crowd and city hall.
Nifong is still due in court sometime this week to to respond to a criminal contempt charge.
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