The bulk of a federal lawsuit filed by former Duke University lacrosse players falsely accused of raping a stripper has been dismissed.
    
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit on Monday dismissed all claims for damages filed under federal law against the City of Durham and its police department. The court left intact claims under North Carolina law that Durham officials violated the players' constitutional rights and claims that two police detectives engaged in malicious prosecution.
    
David F. Evans, Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann faced felony charges in 2006 after a mentally-ill woman hired as a stripper at an off-campus team party claimed she had been gang raped. North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper later declared the players innocent and the lead prosecutor in the case was disbarred.