Judge denies gag order request in Cornell sex assault civil case
A New York judge on Friday rejected a request to impose a gag order in the civil case brought by a former Cornell University student who alleged she was sexually assaulted at a fraternity house in 2024, calling the request a "side show" that's "meant to muddy the waters and distract from the merits of the claims and defenses involved in this case."
Judge Phaedra Perry-Bond said the public statements made by Jane Doe's attorney that one of the men named in the civil lawsuit used to justify the request "express nothing more than [his] opinions."
"Expressing opinions on the case or reporting on how the litigation has impacted clients cannot alone serve as a factual basis for limiting an individual's First Amendment rights," Judge Perry-Bond wrote. "While the Court agrees that [he] should not make statements that certain parties spoliated evidence, especially where, as here, no discovery has yet to take place, those isolated statements, without more, are insufficient to show the serious risk of prejudice required by precedent and the United States Constitution."
The judge encouraged the attorneys in the case to work together to prevent their clients from facing threats, harassment, and doxing.
"The Court believes that given the notoriety of doxing related to this case, it would serve all parties' interests to work together to ensure their clients and others may be safeguarded, to the extent possible, from being inundated with threats or harassment from malicious outside actors," she wrote.
Perry-Bond also rebuked the lawyer who requested the gag order for including in a court filing an email exchange with an attorney for one of the other men.
"The Court will not tolerate its docket being used to generate media controversy, and this Court does not tolerate attorneys, especially attorneys who are not even involved in this case, engaging in mudslinging," she wrote.
The attorneys requesting the gag order had asked for "narrowly tailored restrictions" that would prevent lawyers and parties in the civil case from commenting on the allegations outside of court, arguing in their motion that a gag order would limit "possible juror prejudice" and prevent the potential release of sensitive information that could lead to " threats, doxing, intimidation, and extrajudicial contact."
In a statement responding to the motion response, an attorney for Jane Doe, Thomas Giuffra, argued that the attorney for one of the men "has tried to rebut the claims in this case by engaging in a wholesale leaking of confidential documents, giving interviews calling Ms. Doe's story into question and calling her lawsuit immoral. These attempts to shift the narrative have not been successful."
A then-undergraduate student identified only as Jane Doe made a complaint to campus police in November 2024, three weeks after the alleged incident occurred, that she had been sexually assaulted by a group of men at the Chi Phi fraternity house. She filed a civil suit against seven men and the university alleging that she had been drugged and raped.
The men denied all of the allegations.
The university has said it takes allegations of allegations of sexual violence "extremely seriously" and that it "investigated and adjudicated the allegations consistent with university policies."
The school said it conducted a "thorough" Title IX investigation and "issued a range of sanctions, which included expulsions and suspensions from Cornell.
This week, Cornell University President Michael Kotlikoff announced that all parties and social events at fraternity houses are suspended for the rest of year while the university considers whether fraternity life can continue at the Ivy League school.
"It is clear that women on our campus continue to question whether they are safe. We must meet this moment by acknowledging where we have fallen short and taking meaningful action," Kotlikoff said Tuesday.
No criminal charges have been filed, but an investigation by the New York attorney general is ongoing.
The case has rocked the university and started conversations about treatment of sexual assault allegations on college campuses across the country.
