INDIANAPOLIS (Network Indiana): A federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit against Attorney General Curtis Hill by the women who accuse him of groping them.

Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson says the accusations are “disgraceful and reprehensible” if true, but says a sexual harassment charge must be filed against the accuser’s employer — and the women work for the House and Senate, not Hill or the state. She says a claim that Hill was acting under the color of state law isn’t enough to describe him as their employer.

The ruling leaves the door open for three counts claiming battery, defamation, and invasion of privacy to be refiled in state court.