FSU asks North Carolina court to dismiss ACC's lawsuit against school
Florida State’s latest legal step against the Atlantic Coast Conference was made Wednesday.
The Seminoles have asked a North Carolina court for dismissal of the ACC’s lawsuit there because, among other things, it was premature and filed improperly without the required vote of conference membership, according to the ACC constitution.
FSU and the ACC have been in a legal tug-of-war since last December as the Seminoles explore a potential exit from the conference.
The ACC originally filed its lawsuit against FSU on Dec. 21, 2023, a day before the Seminoles’ Board of Trustees approved its lawsuit against the conference.
FSU is seeking declaratory judgment to void the league's grant of rights and and hefty withdrawal fee.
In its motion filed in Mecklenburg County Superior Court Wednesday, FSU called the ACC’s preemptive suit “an admitted ‘race to the courthouse’ to secure what it hoped would proved to be a more favorable forum.
Citing the ACC’s improper attempt at “procedural fending,” FSU said the ACC’s lawsuit against FSU is fundamentally flawed for a host of reasons:
ACC premature filed suit before an actual or justiciable controversy arose
the ACC's 'race to the courthouse' skirted them getting two-thirds members vote required by Constitution to initiate the lawsuit
the ACC is not permitted to sue the FSU Board in North Carolina, as the FSU Board has not waived its sovereign immunity anywhere expect within the boundaries of the Sunshine State
the Amended Complaint fails to plead that the FSU Board approved the Grants of Rights as required by Florida law
North Carolina law for unincorporated nonprofit associations does not support the ACC’s attempt to impose broad, extra-contractual, fiduciary duties on each of its members to act in the best interest of the ACC
FSU also argues the school’s BOT never signed or approved the grant of rights, pointing out it was only signed by the university president.
According to FSU, its board is the only entity with the legal authority to “contract and be contracted with.”
Earlier this month, the ACC and FSU each filed amended complaints against each other.
Breaking the grant-of-rights agreement and leaving the ACC would cost FSU $572 million, according to the Seminoles' initial lawsuit
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: FSU and ACC have been in legal tug-of-war as school explores exit from league
