IOWA CITY (AP) — The Iowa Board of Regents must release its email exchanges and other correspondence with a St. Louis law firm it hired to investigate the University of Iowa’s response to a 2007 sexual assault allegation involving football players, a judge has ruled.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Ross Walters has ordered that the documents be turned over to former university general counsel Marc Mills, who was fired after the investigation faulted his handling of the high-profile case. The records could show whether regents and their staff had any influence on the investigation by the Stolar Partnership law firm or its findings, which also led to the firing of veteran dean of students Phil Jones, Walters ruled.

The ruling came Tuesday in a lawsuit Mills brought against Stolar, university President Sally Mason, former Regent Bonnie Campbell and other officials alleging that he was defamed by the report’s inaccurate portrayal of his performance. Essentially, Mills claims he was made a scapegoat over the mishandling of the case, in which a female athlete alleged she was sexually assaulted by two football players.