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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.

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.

A most unusual posture for a plaintiff!

That being the case, all bets are off.

Duke has offered a substantial sum in settlement, which has been refused? Then the defendants will twist and turn and try to delay the trial, but the whole purpose of delay on the part of the defense is to try to leverage a settlement. If the plaintiffs aren't interested in a settlement, then all the delay in the world will, in the end, do no good.

And sooner or later the judge is going to deny a motion for extension of discovery time, and set a trial date.

If they are just deposing Alleva, though, and haven't yet deposed the police chief, and the defendants are filing motions for protective orders to limit discovery, we are probably not near the end of discovery.

But this could get . . . interesting.