As the Florida State Board of Trustees awaits its turn before the State of North Carolina Supreme Court in the ACC case, it has gotten some new allies. The attorneys general from 11 states have filed an amicus brief with the state supreme court in North Carolina. It states that the school’s sovereign immunity claim should prevail over any of the legal filings from the ACC.
Where We Stand
The conference filed a lawsuit against FSU for breach of contract earlier in the Spring. The ACC contended that the school’s effort to leave the ACC violated both the conference constitution and the Grant of Rights, governing broadcast rights ownership.
Judge Bledsoe III has heard the preliminary motions in this case in a court specifically designed to hear particularly complex contract civil suits.
Florida State had filed a motion to dismiss the suit. It claims that as a public entity in the state of Florida, sovereign immunity protected them from being sued in another state. The ACC’s rebuttal was that because it was headquartered in Charlotte, NC, the specific court was the right place for the case to be heard. Judge Bledsoe denied Florida State’s motion to dismiss.
Because the case was being heard in the complex contract court, petitioners could skip the rest of the appellate process and go directly to the state supreme court. FSU has done this. The appeal is expected to be heard in the Spring. The entire case in North Carolina has been set aside pending the appeal. The same set of circumstances applies to Clemson in the case in North Carolina. Judge Bledsoe is scheduled to retire in January so he will not be hearing any further elements of either case.
Florida State Gets Allies
In the meantime, the attorneys general for the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Utah have filed a joint amicus brief on behalf of Florida State. The brief acknowledges Florida State as a public entity of the state of Florida. It goes on to say that states are protected from lawsuits to which they have not consented.
The brief reads in part, “Embracing a long history of sovereign immunity, the Constitution requires a state’s consent before a federal court or another state’s court can exercise jurisdiction over that state.” The attorneys general say a challenge to one state’s sovereign immunity potentially sets a precedent for all states.
What Could Happen
Florida State and Clemson have filed lawsuits in their states against the ACC. Both schools are challenging the authority of the Grant of Rights agreement and its existence through 2036. The ACC has filed a motion to dismiss in both cases. Judge Perry Gravely in Pickens County South Carolina, and Judge John C. Cooper in Leon County, Florida denied the ACC’s motions. The ACC has filed motions with the respective appellate courts to challenge those rulings. The case in South Carolina has been paused while the appeals get filed and heard.
That is not the case in Florida. Judge Cooper ruled that the case would not be paused through the appellate steps. That has been added to the list of issues the ACC is appealing in Florida.
If the state supreme court sides with the attorneys general and Florida State, it will, in effect, dismiss the ACC case in North Carolina against FSU and Clemson. The conference could appeal to the United States Supreme Court based on jurisdictional issues, but that seems unlikely.
