Florida Appeals Court denies ACC attempt to halt FSU case
First DCA opinion denies ACC attempt to halt Florida case, in favor of North Carolina one
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) - Florida’s First District Court of Appeals has denied the ACC’s attempt to halt FSU’s lawsuit against the conference in a dispute over media rights and revenues.
In a 13-page page decision issued Monday morning, the judges refused the Atlantic Coast Conference’s request to stay the case pending the outcome of an ACC suit against FSU filed in North Carolina.
“The ACC argues that under the principle of priority, the trial court should have stayed the FSU Board’s action pending the disposition of the ACC’s suit filed in North Carolina, which involves the same parties and the same issues. Because the trial court did not depart from the essential requirements of the law in denying the ACC’s motion to stay, we deny its certiorari petition on the merits,” Judge Joseph Lewis, Jr. wrote in the opinion.
The ACC filed suit against Florida State University one day before a publicly noticed meeting in which the FSU Board of Trustees planned to approve filing a lawsuit against the conference.
Circuit Judge John Cooper previously called the ACC suit “an anticipatory filing” that should not take priority over FSU’s Florida-based lawsuit.
In 2013 and 2016, Florida State executed Grant of Rights agreements in which it transferred to the ACC the media rights to its home games through 2036. The dueling lawsuits followed speculation that FSU was considering pulling out of the ACC.
Read the full 13-page document here:
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