A settlement has ended a battle between the Hargrave Military Academy and an expelled student's parents who created a Web site to lambaste the Chatham prep school.School officials and the parents' attorney refused to disclose terms of the settlement.
But both sides acknowledged the accord brings to an end a dispute that centered on a Web site, HargraveHasProblems.com, that Jerry and Melissa Guyles created after the school gave their son the boot.
The Web site, which a federal judge had temporarily shut down, was not up yesterday, and neither school officials nor attorneys for the Guyleses would say if it would appear online again.
"We can't talk about it," Hargrave President Wheeler Baker said. "I can't tell you anything."
The Guyleses started the Web site after the school expelled their son weeks before his scheduled graduation and refused to refund tuition payments. An Honor Council had found the son guilty of stealing.
After the Web site accused Baker of poor leadership, Hargrave and Baker sued the Holly Springs, N.C., couple for libel, and U.S. District Judge James C. Turk temporarily shut down the Web site.
That prompted the American Civil Liberties Union and the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression to weigh in on behalf of the couple, arguing that Turk's action violated the Guyleses' First Amendment right to free speech.
The two sides were to appear in U.S. District Court in Roanoke this week but reached a settlement after a closed-door mediation at the federal courthouse Friday, said Jane Glenn, attorney for the Guyleses.
She said both sides have agreed not to discuss terms of the settlement.
Rex Bowman
rbowman@timesdispatch.com
Richmond Times-Dispatch
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