2008 Woodie Awards
$30M lax settlement with Durham justified
By: Kenneth Larrey
Issue date: 9/17/07 Section: Letters
Last update: 9/17/07 at 8:21 AM EST
Last update: 9/17/07 at 8:21 AM EST
- Page 1 of 1
Do the three formerly indicted men's lacrosse players deserve $30 million? Of course not. Should Durham be held liable for $30 million? Absolutely.
"Deserve" doesn't have anything to do with it. $30 million is comprised mainly of punitive damages-a modest sum considering the blistering smack in the face so many elements of Durham need and deserve.
$30 million is the least of Durham's worries. Residents should be asking how a corrupt district attorney's office could remain silent throughout this affair, how an entire police department could do the same, how a man like Sgt. Mark Gottlieb can still carry a badge, how consecutive judges could allow this charade to continue and actively enable it, how a population could nominate and elect an overwhelmingly corrupt prosecutor and how The Herald-Sun continues to sell papers after maneuvering the county into precisely this sort of legal quagmire. They should reconsider the dangerous biases along lines of race, class and gender with which as humans we often seem to comfort ourselves and instead reflect on how the people to whom they look for education, information and leadership have used those biases and prejudices to manipulate them.
Most importantly, we should all ask how city and University leaders, after everything that has been exposed, could have learned absolutely nothing.
Not every citizen of Durham supported former Durham district attorney Mike Nifong and the symbolic prosecution of innocent men because of what they are and supposedly represent, yet every citizen will suffer for it. Very few Duke students and alumni participated in this affair, and yet our University will suffer for years as a result of the blubbering cowardice, deceit and shortsighted betrayal of certain administrators and many deplorable ideologues who forced the hands of weak men.
I'm not sure which is worse-the widespread corruption, or the current, frantic attempts to cover up and justify such conduct that lead to further liability. Duke and Durham leaders are covering their own fannies at the expense of Duke and Durham.
Kenneth Larrey
Trinity '08
Founder, Duke Student for an Ethical Duke
"Deserve" doesn't have anything to do with it. $30 million is comprised mainly of punitive damages-a modest sum considering the blistering smack in the face so many elements of Durham need and deserve.
$30 million is the least of Durham's worries. Residents should be asking how a corrupt district attorney's office could remain silent throughout this affair, how an entire police department could do the same, how a man like Sgt. Mark Gottlieb can still carry a badge, how consecutive judges could allow this charade to continue and actively enable it, how a population could nominate and elect an overwhelmingly corrupt prosecutor and how The Herald-Sun continues to sell papers after maneuvering the county into precisely this sort of legal quagmire. They should reconsider the dangerous biases along lines of race, class and gender with which as humans we often seem to comfort ourselves and instead reflect on how the people to whom they look for education, information and leadership have used those biases and prejudices to manipulate them.
Most importantly, we should all ask how city and University leaders, after everything that has been exposed, could have learned absolutely nothing.
Not every citizen of Durham supported former Durham district attorney Mike Nifong and the symbolic prosecution of innocent men because of what they are and supposedly represent, yet every citizen will suffer for it. Very few Duke students and alumni participated in this affair, and yet our University will suffer for years as a result of the blubbering cowardice, deceit and shortsighted betrayal of certain administrators and many deplorable ideologues who forced the hands of weak men.
I'm not sure which is worse-the widespread corruption, or the current, frantic attempts to cover up and justify such conduct that lead to further liability. Duke and Durham leaders are covering their own fannies at the expense of Duke and Durham.
Kenneth Larrey
Trinity '08
Founder, Duke Student for an Ethical Duke
Viewing Comments 1 - 7 of 14
Ken Larrey
posted 9/17/07 @ 9:55 AM EST
Actually it's Duke Student(S) for an Ethical Duke. You will all be happy to know it's more than just one student at Duke that supports the notion of a university that conducts itself ethically. (Continued…)
'07 Alum
posted 9/17/07 @ 10:20 AM EST
As a person who:
A) Has never supported the actions of Mike Nifong or the DPD
B) Has suffered as a recent Duke alumnus "as a result of the blubbering cowardice, deceit and shortsighted betrayal of certain administrators"
C) Is a current citizen of Durham, and has been so for only a few months
I'm sure that Duke Students for an Ethical Duke will do the ethical thing and front my $146 share of the lawsuit (that's $30 million divided by Durham's 205,000 person population). (Continued…)
Anonymous
posted 9/17/07 @ 10:37 AM EST
Under the law, damages must bear some logical relationship to the injury incurred by the plaintiff, otherwise you can rationalize any amount of damages whatsoever, no matter how ridiculous it may be, as the author has tried to do here. (Continued…)
Trinity '85
posted 9/17/07 @ 12:13 PM EST
Given that $146 is less than what I pay for car insurance, I will gladly pay that amount or more to be insured against persecution for being a straight, white, middle-class male in Durham. (Continued…)
A Duke Grad Student
posted 9/17/07 @ 4:39 PM EST
Thank you Mr. Larrey,
I appreciate your efforts to make Duke and Durham better places.
I found this today on Digg:
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2007/09/16/2007-09-16_custodian_falsely_accused_of_child_rape_. (Continued…)
CHRIS DAVIS
posted 9/17/07 @ 7:04 PM EST
Janet Reno put a whole slew of people in jail in Miami on trumped up child molestation charges and I don't think any of them were ever successful in collecting damages from Miami-Dade. (Continued…)
A duke parent
posted 9/17/07 @ 9:00 PM EST
"Under the law, damages must bear some logical relationship to the injury incurred by the plaintiff, otherwise you can rationalize any amount of damages whatsoever, no matter how ridiculous it may be, as the author has tried to do here. (Continued…)
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