NEW YORK – “I thought that case was over?”

Parents of players on the 2006 Duke lacrosse team embrace as a new lawsuit is announced.

That is the question I was asked repeatedly following the news that 38 present and former members of the Duke lacrosse team have filed a new lawsuit against Duke University, members of the Duke administration, the City of Durham, North Carolina, and others involved in the criminal investigation that resulted in the indictments of three players. Read more

Following the dismissal of the charges and the complete exoneration of the three players, a number of claims by those players — and the former Duke coach — were settled. Claims by those players against former District Attorney Mike Nifong were potentially sidelined by his bankruptcy filing.

So what now are these claims by the other team members about? That’s a good question.

First, some full disclosure: (1) The president of Duke, Richard Brodhead, is a friend of mine, and (2) My son is a college lacrosse player at Yale. That being said, I think it’s fair to wonder what the point of the litigation is.

These players were never charged, nor were they ever suspended from school. They were undoubtedly placed in an unpleasant situation, especially in the early stages of the investigation when the notion of “presumed innocent” seemed to escape many in the media and the general public, but they were also, for the most part, the young men who had participated in the entirely inappropriate “party” that triggered this sad episode.

It’s too early in this litigation to conclude what value it may have — whether there are real losses that need to be addressed or whether this suit is just an unseemly punctuation to and unseemly episode — but I suspect that the lawyers behind the suit may have an uphill battle as they try to persuade a trial court, and the court of public opinion, that the various defendants should be writing a check to these young men.

– Jack Ford, In Session anchor