[5] Swidler filed an appeal with the Northampton County Court seeking to reverse the expulsion, claiming the website was protected speech under the First Amendment and that the district violated his constitutional rights.

[8] On July 23, 1999, Judge Robert E. Simpson Jr. ruled in favor of the school district, claiming the website was disruptive and threatening, did not constitute protected speech and was a reasonable basis for expulsion.

[9] On Wednesday November 29, 2000 a Northampton County, Pennsylvania jury awarded a settlement of $450,000 to teacher Kathleen Fulmer for violation of her privacy, and $50,000 to her husband for loss of consortium.

The court had found that the website did not reflect a serious threat or expression that Swidler meant to seriously harm Fulmer or Kartsotis, describing it as "a sophomoric, crude, highly offensive and perhaps misguided attempt at humor or parody".

[3] Even though the website was created off-campus, the court found there was a "sufficient nexus between the web site and the boy school campus to consider the speech as occurring on-campus.