A federal judge has rebuked the attorney representing 15 Jane Doe plaintiffs suing Baylor University over its alleged mishandling of their sexual assault claims.

U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman chastised “plaintiffs' counsel” for alleging, in the midst of a discovery dispute, that opposing counsel from Thompson & Horton were asking abusive questions in depositions. The plaintiffs' counsel who raised the issue in a motion response are Jim Dunnam of Dunnam & Dunnam in Waco and Chad Dunn of Brazil & Dunn in Houston.

“The court will not permit the parties to use court filings to deliver material to the news media that is irrelevant to the immediate issue before the court,” Pitman wrote in the April 16 order in Doe v. Baylor University, pending in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas.