(Updated at 8 p.m.)
A federal court today rejected Duke University’s argument that a Web site run by student lacrosse players suing the institution should be shut down. The Web site, DukeLawsuit.com, updates visitors on the status of the case, which 38 students filed over the university’s response to rape accusations against the students in 2006. The blog posts briefs filed by both sides in the case, including those regarding the motion to shut down the site.
Lawyers for Duke, the City of Durham, and the Duke University Health System objected to the Web site and a news conference organized by the plaintiffs, alleging that those actions violate the North Carolina Professional Rules of Conduct and will “have a material prejudicial effect on [the] proceeding.”
The News & Observer, a newspaper, Raleigh, N.C., reported today that Judge James A. Beatty of the U.S. District Court in Winston-Salem, N.C., had rejected the request to shut down the Web site, but also cautioned lawyers to stay within the rules of conduct and avoid public statements that might prejudice potential jurors.
The National Law Journal has more on the controversy. —Catherine Rampell
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