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 ...
“He looks around and, to paraphrase, says, ‘Where in the [heck] are all these lawyers coming from?’”
That ain't gonna cut it.
I read that and thought "Wow, there's a drop in the proverbial bucket."
Naaaaah.
I hate it for the Durham County FReepers, but I hope these kid’s lawyers leave the city destitute.
** snicker **
http://www.heraldsun.com/durham/4-875616.cfm?
City pushed to kill police lacrosse probe
By Ray Gronberg : The Herald-Sun
gronberg@heraldsun.com
Aug 27, 2007 : 1:20 pm ET
The insurance company that supplies Durham’s liability coverage wants an independent investigation of the city Police Department’s handling of the Duke lacrosse case shut down.
Representatives of the American Insurance Group Inc. told city officials late last week that they’re worried the investigation headed by former N.C. Supreme Court Justice Willis Whichard will cause problems as the city gears up for a prospective lawsuit by three former Duke lacrosse players.
Sources say that the firm hinted strongly that it might cancel the city’s policy if officials don’t go along with its request.
(snip)
The special prosecutors have “got a whole room with documents, charts and files,” Whichard said. “They expressed willingness to be available to us further if we need them to be.”
City officials learned recently that Sullivan and Scheck – famous for their representation of former Marine Corps Lt. Col. Oliver North and football star O.J. Simpson, respectively – were working for the players and are preparing a civil lawsuit.
Sullivan’s office confirmed on Friday that he’s representing Evans and Finnerty, and that Scheck is representing Seligmann.
The city has a $5 million liability policy. It is not clear whether a lawsuit by the players would count as one claim under it, or three.
It is also not clear whether the players are willing to settle. City officials believe at least one may want a day in court.
(snip)
http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=...ngle&id=5608783
08/27/07 — DURHAM) - The threat of a potential lawsuit against Durham’s police department has put an investigative panel in jeopardy. Sources tell Eyewitness News Reporter Tamara Gibbs that city leaders may have to consider suspending the panel, or risk possibly losing the city’s insurance coverage for a potential lawsuit.
Sources tell Eyewitness News the insurance company, which would pay for a potential lawsuit settlement, threatened to suspend the city’s policy if it didn’t reconsider the Duke Lacrosse Investigative Committee. We’re told the company sent its request by fax last Thursday. The city’s policy would cover up to $5 million in the event of a lawsuit.
Attorneys for the city and the former Duke Lacrosse defendants spoke for the first time last week. They plan to meet face-to-face within the next few weeks. The high-powered talks have forced Durham leaders to hold at least two closed-door sessions.
(snip)
Isn't it about that time of year for Discovery Channel's Shark Week?
The city is going to have to get Duke to chip in. And Duke will have to tap the 88 who cheered it on. The city can rightfully argue that the PC climate at Duke was probably the biggest contributing factor to Nifong’s misconduct. The interesting thing about mega-million lawsuits is when the perps start pointing fingers and eating their own. Pass the popcorn, please.
Lacking any more funds, sounds like they are going to have to rename the city Evans-Finnerty-Seligman.
This is about to get interesting!!!
I’m mixing up margaritas to watch this one unfold
Can the boys also sue Duke U? After all, the university cancelled the lacrosse program without any evidence. I believe they even did that before the case went on trial.
They settled with Duke.
(Ping!)
Wouldn’t Nifong have also had his own professional liability coverage? I know that in some states and some professions those premiums are required to be paid up to 3 years in advance so as to cover claims that might come up after someone has left their profession.
I wonder if the policy is a wasting one - if the cost of defense is subtracted from the coverage amounts. If so, the insurers could spend the full $5 million defending the case.
ping
I really hope some of the attention of the lawyers will be directed at Nifong personally. Drain all of his assets and attach his retirement income, as one of the reasons he kept after the kids was to get reelected so he’d qualify for the fatter DA retirement pay.
I think they will settle with the city, if the policemen involved with the case and the chief are replaced or at least punished and it goes in their files, personally I think the Chief should be fired, you know the old, The buck stops here thing.
http://media.www.browndailyherald.com/medi...n-2923688.shtml
Seligmann was an honors student at Duke, a history major who made the Atlantic Coast Conference honor roll in his two years at the university, even though he had to complete his final semester at Duke from home, over the Internet.
He plans to study history at Brown and is considering adding economics as a second concentration. His internship at Bear Stearns has gotten him more interested in business, he says, but his heart, especially after the past year, is in law.
Seligmann knows some resent the three accused players for having the resources to battle the legal system. He is unapologetic about it, but after the Duke case, he realizes more than ever how economics plays a role in law.
Seligmann says he and the two accused teammates plan to one day work with the Innocence Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to exonerating prisoners through DNA testing, or something similar.
His goal, he says, is to work toward making sure that something like the Duke case never happens again, that innocent people never have to go through what he went through, regardless of their financial situation.
At Brown, he promises to start a club related to the Innocence Project, and to devote much of his time to its cause.
When asked if he’s comfortable making a promise, with the Brown community and much of the nation watching, Seligmann doesn’t hesitate to respond.
“They’ll be watching me anyway,” he says.
Project Innocence:
http://www.innocenceproject.org/about/
The Innocence Project is a non-profit legal clinic affiliated with the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University and created by Barry C. Scheck and Peter J. Neufeld in 1992. The project is a national litigation and public policy organization dedicated to exonerating wrongfully convicted people through DNA testing and reforming the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice. As a clinic, law students handle case work while supervised by a team of attorneys and clinic staff.
See post 19.
Several cops from the Duke University police force were also in the emergency-room area that night, including an officer named Christopher Day, who had apparently been standing with Sergeant Shelton when he told his watch commander about the accuser’s changing stories. His report of the incident reflected the prevailing view among the cops who had dealt with the woman: “The victim changed her story several times,” Day wrote, “and eventually Durham Police stated that charges would not exceed misdemeanor simple assault against the occupants of 610 N. Buchanan.”
http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/09/04/060904fa_fact?currentPage=2
In a SANE and JUST world, Durham would be rendered financially destitute for their insistent demanding of this OBVIOUS miscarriage of Justice and denial of CIVIL RIGHTS of the wrongly accused..
They reelected Nifong on the basis of his promise to prosecute the innocent...
Bad Actions DEMAND serious consequences....
Durham should be sued to the extent it can no longer support their racist African American population who DEMANDED this persecution of the Lacrosse players, on PURELY racist grounds.
One other group who CLEARLY need their asses and pocketbooks kicked is the Duke Lynch Mob of 88 and the Duke President...
Both have been protected by the families’s settlement with DUKE.
I wonder how the donating Alumni feel about their donations going to protect the President and the 88 from the consequences of THEIR actions?
I support Seligmann’s desire to work to free those who are truly innocent. I hope that he also considers working to fight the PC attitude that punishes people who don’t “think” or “speak” the liberal orthodoxy.
I still don’t understand how the 88 could be held liable. They were going on information provided by the Durham County DA and the media. They didn’t precipitate this but rather jumped on the bandwagon as did many others such as Nancy Grace and Jesse Jackson.
Here is one thing that bothers me about the whole thing. These families had money to hire great lawyers and their was big time media attention paid to this case. How many average Joe’s with a public defender and no national scrutiny to you think Nifong railroaded in his career?
Duke trio learned justice is not blind
Plain Dealer, The (Cleveland, OH)
June 22, 2007
Author: Connie Schultz; Plain Dealer Columnist
The lives of three privileged young white men were almost destroyed by false testimony, a ruthless prosecutor and a rabid public fueled by the media.
Emphasis on almost.
For Dave Evans, Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann, justice prevailed. The former Duke lacrosse players were cleared of rape charges. Their accuser, Crystal Gail Mangum, was outed as a liar. And the public outcry on their behalf led to North Carolina disbarring District Attorney Mike Nifong.
These young men are a year older but decades wiser.
They now know that at least 203 other wrongly accused men never had their swing at justice because they had no family members with the means to wage the costly fight for their freedom.
They know that prosecutors are seldom punished for misconduct.
They know this means something is very wrong with our system of justice.
They could have closed the book on this horrific chapter in their lives but chose instead to meet some of the men whose stories mirror theirs in ways they could never have imagined a year ago.
There was scant media coverage of this encounter because the Duke players insisted they weren’t the point. I only found out after calling Eric Ferrero at the Innocence Project, which works to free the wrongly incarcerated through post-conviction DNA testing.
“You know, they came to our benefit,” he said. “We invited them, and we knew they bought tickets, but we didn’t know if they would attend.”
The first-ever fund-raiser was in New York on April 24. Before the event, Ferrero stood next to the project’s co-founder, lawyer Barry Scheck, who was holding a news conference outside. That’s when Ferrero spotted the lacrosse players.
They started to walk toward the entrance, then darted out of view when they saw the cameras. Ferrero quietly escorted them to their table.
They didn’t want to talk to reporters, Ferrero said. “We had about 20 exonerees at the dinner, and they [the former Duke students] kept saying the focus should be on those men. They kept mentioning how they would have gone to prison if they hadn’t had the money to fight. We were all impressed that they could acknowledge that.”
(snip)
http://www.cleveland.com/living/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/living-0/118250185928430.xml&coll=2
Actually, I usually argue whenever someone uses the "R" word. Because it is NOT the general purpose word to explain something you don't understand or misinterpret.
However, the real meaning of racism is the belief that your race is superior to another. Nazi German is the perfect example.
In this case, I would have to say you are more right than wrong. Obviously, the black population of Durham thought that Nifong was correct and the Duke boys were typical white men who think nothing of abusing and raping black women. This sort of thinking is wrong and is NOT backed up by any shred of proof.
Sure there are a-holes from any race who does violate other people's right to live their lives in peace. But it isn't exclusive to any race and this is where the population of Durham went wrong.
I haven't seen any sort of apology from the voters so I have absolutely no sympathy for them (please correct me if I'm wrong here).
So sue the city, make the representatives make public apologies and then sell the City hall for scrap...
I think someone made the point on an earlier thread that these 88 faculty members represent "community leaders" and made an opinion on untried defendants.
Word to the wise, never state an opinion on ANYTHING on a full page ad until the fact is proven.
Those 88 faculty members who signed that ad made a really, really stupid error. I think only one actually apologized. That leaves 87 white apologists that need to be smacked upside their freaky liberal heads...
so much fun... I'll take some popcorn with a little Tabasco sauce, some Big Red soda...and just giggle.
Liberals eaten by lawyers...gawd that's funny.
I’m of two minds on this, Obvisously the boys deserve compensation for the harasment they went through. On the other hand every cent that they and the lawyers get will be tax payers money. But the voters there elected that fool nifong, I manly feel sorry for the ones who didn’t vote for him but are now going to get stuck paying the bill.
>>The city can rightfully argue that the PC climate at Duke was probably the biggest contributing factor to Nifong’s misconduct.
Sorry, but the NAACP-leaning city leadership was right there from the beginning, every bit as big as the fools from Duke.
I’d be really curious for someone to really go through Duke’s financial statements, and try to figure out what the amount was on the settlement. I bet it wasn’t cheap.
This one’s not about Nifong. He was a State employee.
heheheh ‘was’ heheheh
The logic of the insurer is to halt a public investigation of a public wrong so that the financial damages will be more easily limited. So a private insurer (which knowingly insured a public entity) has the power to stop (or suggest) that a public investigation be HALTED? THAT IN ITSELF is a denial of civil rights. Disgust. Utter Disgust. Don’t these folks learn anything? Ever?
OK, then these young men can also seek a monetary settlement with the state as well as the city. Pockets are getting deeper, it seems.
I'm hoping they'll need that money for their defense against a civil suit coming their way.
” The city can rightfully argue that the PC climate at Duke was probably the biggest contributing factor to Nifong’s misconduct. “
It had very little to do with it. Durham is a town with gigantic race and class issues. Duke is not liked by most of Durham and the Durham DA would not be receptive to them. This was simple election year politics. He was trying to get the black vote and he did. The person who wins the black vote wins in Durham, period. The black voters in Durham are generally poor, uneducated, and very race conscious. Racebating has always worked well with them.
It took a SCOTUS decision to allow plaintiffs to sue municipalities (at least a far as the CRA of 1871 goes).
OK, then these young men can also seek a monetary settlement with the state as well as the city. Pockets are getting deeper, it seems. <.i>
Boys go for $10 mil each now.
The city is already morally bankrupt, fiscally bankrupt would be just.. Revenge is best served cold...
So a private insurer (which knowingly insured a public entity) has the power to stop (or suggest) that a public investigation be HALTED?
'Nifong made me do it', aka the Nifonguremberg defense, does not matter. City officials, from Bell down, and DPD management, from Chalmers down, placed the city's imprimatur on the DPD's failings by approving the Apr 4 ID, and repeatedly claiming that the DPD did nothing wrong.
The city can rightfully argue that the PC climate at Duke was probably the biggest contributing factor to Nifong’s misconduct.
It could be in the policy, but I do believe that public law (including one’s basic civil liberties) trumps private contracts. This clearly “impinges” (as lawyers like to say) on someone’s civil rights (the students’) and on the public’s right to know about its government and its functioning.
Durham NC deserves some serious pain.
In the end, all of America will suffer.
Forces have succeeded in causing race relations in America to degenerate to a point where it will end up doing more harm to the nation that did slavery or the Civil War.
Leftist Political and Racial organizations have nurtured and inflamed the most ludicrous race baiting scenarios to shake down the public and to garner political power for themselves at great harm to the Republic...
The Communists knew what they were doing when they supported the NAACP, ACLU and other “Civil Rights” organizations...
Once the ignorant bastards have destroyed this bright shining city on the hill - where the hell do they believe they will get a better deal...
Stupid is as stupid does...
All haters of America, and dissatisfied citizens should be seriously encouraged to leave....and go where they believe they have a better chance of enjoying the “good life”...
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