A federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware has decided that a criminal conviction on rape and sexual-abuse charges cannot be used as evidence to support summary judgment in a civil case involving the same parties and events.

U.S. District Judge Gregory M. Sleet denied plaintiff Karolina Karpov’s motion for summary judgment in a Jan. 15 memorandum opinion in Karpov v. Karpov.