When you're dealing with the 'intentions' of people, you have to cover every base because they will try to explain bad motivations away with some excuse.
I agree with you that the longer this drags on, the worse it looks for Duke. Of course, the initial scandal was bad enough - this just keeps it in the news.
My daughter was applying to colleges about the time this all broke, and we crossed Duke off the list. Even though my mom was Duke '48.
Though I never defended a high-profile case like this, I would think that somebody should have contemplated settlement very, very seriously rather than let things drag on this long. But the same pride and liberal delusions, plus blind belief in their own perfection, led to the scandal in the first place and will probably lead them to go to trial. They might get lucky, but they may have a hard fall.
An interesting thing about trying this in federal court is that Duke will not get a Durham jury. The panel will be drawn from all over the division (five counties), and I don't think Duke will get much sympathy outside its immediate orbit.
Actually, its the plaintiffs who are resistant to a settlement. We over at Liestoppers have some limited contact with them, and infrequently correspond.
You see, the entire thing was a frameup from the start. The cops, Duke, Nifong - all of them knew there was no rape from the beginning and before it hit the headlines. But they pushed it anyway, for various reasons - DA Nifong, to win an election; Duke, to curry favor with the Marxist crowd on campus; the cops, to settle old scores with uppity students; the prostitute accuser, to score a big payday. And so on.
The plaintiffs overarching goal is that the truth of the attempted lynching be exposed for the world to see. It isn't about settlements or money.
It's about the truth.