Date Set: Leon County Judge To Hear ACC's Motion To Dismiss FSU Lawsuit
Florida State’s and the Atlantic Coast Conference’s lawsuits against each other over the grant of rights and its validity have waged on since late December. There are two lawsuits currently up in the air at the moment as both the ACC and Florida State have filed suit against each other in their home states; more specifically, Mecklenburg County, NC, and Leon County, FL, respectively. Both parties have filed motions to dismiss or stay against their opponent’s legal action.
Despite all this, both cases now have a date set for their first hearing.
April 9 will be the first hearing for Florida State’s suit filed in Leon County, Florida. Judge John C. Cooper will hear the ACC’s call for a dismiss or stay in the case which was filed on Feb. 16.
Florida State's motion will be heard on March 22 in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina.
Should Judge Cooper grant the ACC’s stay request in the Leon County case, then the lawsuit filed in North Carolina by the ACC will serve as the final say as the precedent will have been set.
The ACC suggested in their motion to dismiss or stay that the lawsuit should be deliberated in North Carolina as they filed their suit a day before Florida State.
"[T]he parties substantively engaged first on the field in North Carolina … And that is as it should be," the ACC's lawyers stated earlier this month. "Florida State chose to join the ACC, a North Carolina unincorporated nonprofit association, and entered and specifically voted in favor of the contracts it now challenges, all of which are governed by North Carolina law."
Florida State countered with a motion of its own, accusing the ACC of “racing to the courthouse” to file suit against the public institution.
The ACC countered in its most recent legal action by saying, “There is nothing improper about a party seeking to protect its rights by filing first.”
The ACC also argues that FSU has not “met its burden to show substantial injustice” in its lawsuit.
Finally, ESPN’s Dan Murphy mentioned that legal chaos could ensue if both cases in their respective states do not receive stay orders, effectively creating a “race to judgment” as the first decision made in either case would be the final one.
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