TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A Leon County Judge upheld Florida State University’s lawsuit against the Atlantic Coast Conference on Tuesday, while also accusing the ACC of “forum shopping” against the Tallahassee-based school.
As FSU athletics seeks to exit the ACC, the two parties are feuding over a multi-million-dollar media deal and a roughly $130 million dollar exit fee — an amount hovering in the ballpark of $500 million.
The high-profile disagreement resulted in two lawsuits: one filed by FSU against the ACC in Florida. The other filed preemptively by the ACC in its home state of North Carolina, which happened just days before the FSU board approved its plan to file suit.
Attorneys for the ACC asked the judge Tuesday to pause or dismiss the case until their lawsuit in North Carolina is resolved. The court, however, denied the motion and accused the conference of shopping forums.
Forum shopping is the legal practice of targeting one court over the other in hopes of more favorable odds.
“There’s only one reason you would want to engage in forum shopping and that’s because the forum you just shopped is better than the other place,” said Second Judicial Circuit Judge John Cooper.
FSU is accusing the ACC of financial mismanagement and a “draconian” exit fee, among other things, thus they should exit the conference without financial penalty.
“This is Florida State’s money,” said FSU attorney Peter Rush. “This is Florida State’s team. This is Florida State’s media rights.”
The ACC, meanwhile, is suing back in a North Carolina court, maintaining that their contract with FSU is binding. They also note that they sued first, which they claimed should place the case in North Carolina’s hands under Florida law.
“We served first,” said ACC attorney Alan Lawson in his ending arguments. Lawson served previously as a Florida Supreme Court Justice.
The cases’ outcome poses large implications for the ACC, among the largest collegiate conferences in the nation. It also comes as schools in recent years have begun gravitating toward conferences with more lucrative deals.
With both the Florida case and the North Carolina case in motion, questions remain about how the two parties may resolve their issues if the courts publish opposing opinions.
The next hearing in Florida is scheduled for April 22.
Jason Delgado
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