Cedar Creek lawsuit settled

After nearly two years, the civil lawsuit alleging bullying and sexual battery between students at Ruston’s Cedar Creek School is over.

The parties seemed to have settled the matter out of court Monday just after jury selection in the case’s trial was slated to begin.

After conferring with the parties and their attorneys for more than half an hour after the scheduled start of jury selection, ad hoc Judge Jimmie C. Peters dismissed all of the roughly 130 potential jurors who were gathered in the courtroom.

After another closed-doors meeting, attorneys for both parties simply said the matter had been resolved and would not give any further comment.

The case’s records were still sealed from public view Monday morning, as they have been since the spring of 2022.

In September of 2021, Michael “Duffy” Conroy, his wife Nicole and their minor son filed suit against the Ruston private school, eight of the son’s classmates and their families, the school’s then-principal, and other employees.

The Conroys claimed the school’s negligence allowed their son to be severely bullied at Cedar Creek for months in 2020-21, including several instances of sexual battery with an object.

Duffy and Nicole Conroy were in the courtroom Monday and declined to comment.

News of the suit spread widely among the Ruston community after its filing, becoming a dominant subject of social media discussion and regional news coverage in the days that followed and spawning a few small rallies in support of “Paul,” the alleged victim’s fictitious name.

The students accused in the suit were at one time part of criminal proceedings stemming from the same allegations, with prosecution from Attorney General Jeff Landry’s office.

But as a juvenile criminal case, those proceedings and their records are not open to the public.