[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by NutBrnHair

"They'd like to have their good name restored and they'd like to have the chapter continue to operate," says Kevin O'Neill, an attorney with Patton Boggs in Washington, D.C., who has been consulting with Delta Zeta officials.

Kevin O'Neill is good.

This should be very interesting.

And Patton Boggs is a good firm. But I notice that he doesn't seem to be representing them in this lawsuit.

Originally Posted by kddani

Has anyone seen a copy of the complaint? Anybody know the docket number?

I've looked but haven't found it yet -- I am also unwilling to use the office PACER account to get it.

Originally Posted by TSteven

Frankly, I doubt this lawsuit was filed irrationally. And I doubt that any attorney worth a grain of salt is going to take a case of this type unless they feel they can win it or settle it out of court. Which leads me to believe there may be some merit behind this case.

Ah, I remember when I was that naive. Sorry, Steven, but there are plenty of lawyers who regularly disprove that idea.

Originally Posted by DGMarie

When they are put into evidence, could they then become public record?

Yes.

Originally Posted by TSteven

I would guess (and hope) that Delta Zeta would claim ritual (membership selection) to be privileged information. And anything related to ritual as well.

As Dani said, there's little chance of that. Unless they can convince a judge that these are "trade secrets" -- which will be very difficult, I think, especially given that they're the ones who brought this lawsuit -- there's nothing privileged about this information. Private, yes; privileged, no.

Originally Posted by Taualumna

I don't think membership selection will neccessarily be made public during the case. As people have said in the other thread, this is about kicking women who have already initiated out of the sorority (no matter how you word it, forcing someone into alum status while they are still undergraduates and while the GLO is still active, is "kicking out".) It has nothing to do with who gets in based on whatever. They aren't PNMs, they are initiated sisters.

Won't matter. DePauw is entitled to pursue and will be allowed to pursue any discovery regarding anything that is relevant to the matters involved in the lawsuit (which will include membership selection and retention criteria) or anything that appears reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence. The scope of discovery is very broad.

With the caveat that I haven't read the complaint, it seems to me that the Delta Zeta leadership is getting some very, very bad advice. I don't see much good coming out of this for them.