BOZEMAN - A District Court judge has denied a motion for a new trial in the case of a Montana State University professor who sued the school for gender discrimination.

In April, a jury ruled against engineering professor Aleksandra Vinogradov, who claimed she was treated differently and paid less than other tenured engineering professors, who are all men.

In seeking a new trial, attorneys for Vinogradov cited jury misconduct, stemming primarily from comments about Vinogradov losing similar lawsuits that were posted on the Bozeman Daily Chronicle's Web site.

Vinogradov's attorneys argued that comments, written under the handle "mbcomstock", were written by a juror. In May, attorneys Casey Magan and Russ Waddell questioned juror Brian Comstock in court about his role in writing the post under the handle "mbcomstock."

The post said, "… note that this was the third time this same woman has sued the university for discrimination, and her third loss. Maybe, just maybe, instead of everybody else being conspiring liars hiding a 'big dirty secret,' the problem is really her."

Comstock testified that he did not write the comment, but that it was probably his father, Michael Comstock.

Waddell submitted an affidavit stating that Comstock had, in an earlier telephone conversation, admitted to writing the comment.

Comstock also said he and another juror had a conversation during deliberations about a similar case Vinogradov had lost in Calgary, but said he was "98 percent certain that it happened after the verdict was signed."

The former case was prohibited from being discussed during civil trial.

District Judge Holly Brown ruled Monday that there was no evidence that the other jurors knew about the previous lawsuit "and there was no prejudicial effect on the case warranting a new trial."

Magan said her client intends to appeal Brown's decision to the state Supreme Court.

Magan and Waddell have asked the Bozeman Daily Chronicle for information regarding the postings, but the Chronicle has refused, citing the state's shield law.

"The shield law refers to any information," said the newspaper's attorney, Mike Meloy. "It doesn't matter how that information was gathered or in what form. They are not entitled to any information gathered in the business of publishing the newspaper."