Should Florida Attorney General get involved in FSU vs. ACC lawsuits?
The state of Florida is weighing more involvement in Florida State University’s ongoing lawsuits with the Atlantic Coast Conference.
In a letter from Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody to her peers in six other states, she wrote that Florida is “considering taking action” in the ACC’s suit against FSU in North Carolina.
“In an attempt to pull a fast one and avoid Florida courts, the ACC rushed a suit against FSU in a North Carolina court without thinking through the legal consequences to its schools or their states,” Moody said in a statement Tuesday. “The North Carolina court, which has ruled it has the power to throw out the window 50 years of precedent guaranteeing sovereign immunity to states is extraordinarily concerning and should be to every state that has a school in the ACC.
“We continue to evaluate whether and the extent of action we will take in the North Carolina case, as well as the ACC’s refusal to provide the media contracts that are public records it is wrongfully withholding.”
Moody has already waded into the case, which will help determine the Seminoles’ future in the ACC. In January, she asked the conference for copies of the ACC’s contracts with ESPN — a key document in the nine-figure dispute. FSU counsel mentioned that unfulfilled request during Monday’s hearing in Leon County.
The next potential step for the state, Moody wrote, would mean action in the ACC’s case against FSU. On April 4, a North Carolina judge rejected FSU’s attempts to dismiss that case. The university is appealing to the North Carolina Supreme Court, and the state could help in that process. Moody asked if the other attorneys general wanted to be involved, too.
Attorneys general have acted on behalf of their states in at least two other conference realignment legal battles. In 2013, the attorney general of Maryland sued the ACC in his state as the Terrapins prepared to leave for the Big Ten. That office was also involved in the suit the league filed against Maryland in North Carolina.
In 2003, Charlie Crist —then Florida’s attorney general — intervened for Miami in the dispute over the Hurricanes’ move from the Big East to the ACC. Crist said then that FSU had a stake in the issues, too. The attorneys general of Virginia and Connecticut were also major players in that case.
Moody’s concern centers on sovereign immunity. That’s why she wrote the April 17 letter to the attorneys general of California, Georgia, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Virginia.
Sovereign immunity shields states and state entities from legal action. In this case, Moody wrote, the North Carolina judge ruled that FSU — a state university — waived its sovereign immunity against being sued by joining the ACC (a private group based in North Carolina). Under that logic, other states with public ACC schools risk potential litigation.
That’s why Moody encouraged the attorneys general to discuss the legal ramifications with their schools, which might not fully understand the issue — or what might happen next.
“If the history of college football realignment has taught us anything at this point, it is that there will be some future realignment down the road,” Moody wrote in a letter obtained by the Tampa Bay Times. “The universities that have ratified such an expansive view of the waiver of sovereign immunity in the ACC lawsuit may find that the sword that they now wield will be turned on them.”
The next North Carolina hearing is scheduled for May 2.
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