Replies

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)