DURHAM - The 38 members of the 2006 Duke lacrosse team who sued the university, the city of Durham and a host of others are fighting the attempts to dismiss the case.

The players filed documents in federal court this week, insisting they suffered emotional distress, fraud, negligence and other injury during the 13 months that three of their teammates -- David Evans, Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann, the only three charged in the case -- fought criminal charges.

Charles Cooper, the lawyer from Washington representing the group of 38, submitted their arguments in a series of documents and asked a judge for a hearing on the matter. "The tragic tale that gives rise to their claims is known to almost everyone in the United States and to millions more throughout the world," Cooper said in the Aug. 28 filing.

He added: "These students were for 13 months in 2006-'07 reviled almost daily in the local and national media as a depraved gang of privileged, white hooligans who had hired a black exotic dancer to perform at a team party, had brutally gang-raped and sodomized her in a crowded bathroom, and had joined together in a 'wall of silence' to hide the truth of their heinous crimes. But it was a vile and shameful lie. ..."

In May, Duke, Durham and others asked a federal judge to throw out the lawsuit, saying the players failed to show the fraud, negligence and other injury they alleged.

The players contend that Duke "inflicted emotional distress" in 2006 when administrators remained silent about evidence that contradicted the allegations of Crystal Gail Mangum, the dancer hired to perform at their party.

In the motion for dismissal several months ago, Duke blamed Mike Nifong, the former Durham district attorney who was stripped of his law license and ousted from office for his misconduct in the case.

The players, in their documents opposing the dismissal request, turn the finger toward Duke President Richard Brodhead.

They fault Brodhead for failing to disclose a police report by Duke officer Christopher Day that described Mangum's allegations as so "wildly inconsistent that they had been disregarded as incredible by Durham police."

The players also fault Brodhead for failing to disclose forensic evidence from the Duke sexual assault nurse who examined Mangum.

They also say Brodhead did too little to refute contentions that the team had formed "a wall of silence" while officials investigated.

"Brodhead and Duke remained silent and passively looked on while a politically ambitious and plainly unethical prosecutor, abetted by a mob led by activist Duke professors and student protestors, put 47 innocent Duke students through what Brodhead himself later admitted was "an ordeal the likes of which few have known."

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