Ruling favors Duke players

Attorneys for lacrosse players suing Duke and Durham won't be sanctioned, a judge rules

WINSTON-SALEM -- A federal judge rejected requests for sanctions against lawyers representing 38 members of the 2006 Duke University lacrosse team for publicizing their lawsuit against Duke University and the city of Durham.

At the same time, U.S. District Judge James A. Beatty cautioned lawyers on Tuesday about staying within the rules of conduct and making sure that they, and anyone acting as their agents, refrain from comments that might prejudice potential jurors.

The admonition came during a 90-minute hearing on whether Charles Cooper, the Washington lawyer representing the players, and Robert Bork, the publicist acting as Cooper's media adviser, had crossed a professional line of conduct when they organized a news conference and set up a Web site to publicize the case.

Beatty told lawyers for the plaintiffs and the defendants that it was up to them to make sure that any Web sites or statements complied with the rules of professional conduct.

In late February, lawyers for Duke sought sanctions against Cooper and others representing the players.

In court motions, the Duke representatives said a news conference held at the National Press Club in Washington and a Web site set up by Bork to chronicle the lawsuit appeared "calculated to influence the actual outcome of the trial" and prejudice potential jurors.

On Tuesday, Cooper challenged the lawyers to find anything said at the news conference or posted on the Web site that was not included in court documents, which are public record.

J. Donald Cowan, who spoke for Duke, said the request for sanctions was not intended to be a "gag order," nor was it an attempt to halt publicity surrounding the case.

The request for sanctions, a request echoed by the city of Durham this month, was because the lawyers thought the players' representatives were violating the same rules of professional conduct that fallen Durham prosecutor Mike Nifong violated during his prosecution of an escort dancer's phony gang-rape allegations.

In its ethical rules, the State Bar orders lawyers to refrain from statements outside the courtroom that they know might have "substantial likelihood of materially prejudicing" legal proceedings.

Bork's Web site has linked to other blogs about the Duke lacrosse case.

Judge Beatty told lawyers that it was up to them to make sure that if there were links to other blogs about the case, the information on the site complied with the bar's ethical rules.

None of the 38 players who brought the lawsuit was charged in the gang-rape case.

The three players who were charged and later exonerated have sued Durham in a case that has been stalled by Nifong's bankruptcy filing.

Three other players have sued Duke and the city separately.

Lawyers in court Tuesday said the suit filed by the group of 38 might not go to trial for 18 months.