WVU Files Lawsuit Against the Big East

[cafemerald]

Can't say I disagree that Marinatto is a terrible Commish.

West Virginia filed a civil lawsuit against the Big East on Monday in an attempt to exit the conference in 2012 to join the Big 12, squarely blaming commissioner John Marinatto for the instability of the conference.

In the 14-page suit filed in Monongalia County Circuit Court in West Virginia, the university claims it should not be held to the 27-month waiting period required of all departing teams. West Virginia alleges, "The Big East Conference and its commissioner, through their actions, breached their contract to WVU and nullified and voided the bylaws."

The reason the Big East breached its contract? West Virginia alleges that nothing was done to protect the remaining six football playing schools once Pitt, Syracuse and TCU left. That created such instability, that the lawsuit alleges Cincinnati, Rutgers and UConn engaged in discussions with the ACC, SEC, Big 12 and Big Ten.

West Virginia alleges Marinatto failed to take proactive measures to "maintain, let alone enhance the quality of competition in the league" and the school had no choice but to accept an invitation to the Big 12.

"We are disappointed that West Virginia has adopted this strategy and cannot imagine why it believes it does not have to respect and honor the bylaws it agreed to as a member of the Big East," Marinatto said in a statement Monday. "Based on an initial review of the lawsuit, it is clear that the allegations and claims in it are false and inaccurate.

"Certainly there is nothing in it that would justify WVU's not fulfilling its obligations. To put it simply, a contract is a contract."

West Virginia also believes the Big East will lose its position as an automatic BCS-qualifying conference.

West Virginia also alleges, "The denigration of the Big East Conference is a direct and proximate result of ineffective leadership and breach of fiduciary duties to the football schools by the Big East Conference and its commissioner."

The school is asking for a court injunction to declare the current 27-month waiting period void or count the $2.5 million payment the conference already received from the school as a way to waive the waiting period. West Virginia also is seeking damages for the breach of contract.

Marinatto has said West Virginia is not eligible to join the Big 12 until July 1, 2014.

"Once we have reviewed the filing, we will explore all our legal options and will act vigorously to ensure that WVU lives up to all its obligations to our conference," Marinatto said. "In the meantime, this lawsuit will not interfere in any way with our ongoing efforts to strengthen and expand the Big East."

WVU spokesman John Bolt declined to elaborate, saying "the lawsuit speaks for itself."

The league has been adamant about holding Pitt, Syracuse and West Virginia to the waiting period.

When the Big 12 announced it had accepted West Virginia as a member last week, both the conference and school said the Mountaineers would be full members in 2012.

The lawsuit is the latest development in a flurry of conference realignment activity this fall. Syracuse and Pittsburgh withdrew from the Big East in September to join the Atlantic Coast Conference.

TCU accepted an invitation to join the Big East in September but switched to the Big 12 in October and was not required to honor the 27-month notice requirement.

"That's basically because they never started with the Big East," Big East spokesman Chuck Sullivan said of the Horned Frogs. "Because they had not formally joined the conference, which would have been July 1, 2012, they were subject only to the financial component."

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/st...john-marinatto

[DimitriusChristedes]

"the lawsuit alleges Cincinnati, Rutgers and UConn engaged in discussions with the ACC, SEC, Big 12 and Big Ten"

Bad, bad form for WVU to air that in public. I want to see UC beat them down that much harder Nov 12.

Couple "what?" conferences in that list though. ACC, yeah, Rutgers and UConn want in there badly. Big12, yeah, I'm sure every BE school spoke with them. But Big10? Doesn't make much sense for Rutgers or UConn, which leaves UC, and there is no way in he11 that O$U would let that happen.
And SEC? I don't see how that's a good fit for any of these three schools.

Have to say, at this point I'd be very surprised if the BE were somewhat salvaged by Boise, Houston, Air Force, or any other quality football program. How could you put any faith in the BE's leadership if you were those schools?

[swilsonsp4]

So, we're to believe that all those other schools (UC included) worked behind the scenes to get the heck out of the BE, while good ol' WVU, in good faith, sat idly, hoping against hope that the conference would stick together. Yes, folks, the Mountaineers ... and only the Mountaineers ... are the stalwarts that the rest of the BE needed. They were the only ones with clean hands. Wonderful, pious WVU!

(Yes, this is dripping with sarcasm! Nay, flowing.)

[Doc Brock]

So, we're to believe that all those other schools (UC included) worked behind the scenes to get the heck out of the BE, while good ol' WVU, in good faith, sat idly, hoping against hope that the conference would stick together. Yes, folks, the Mountaineers ... and only the Mountaineers ... are the stalwarts that the rest of the BE needed. They were the only ones with clean hands. Wonderful, pious WVU!

(Yes, this is dripping with sarcasm! Nay, flowing.)

No, it gets even better. They blatantly leave out Louisville in that statement. Seriously?! Louisville could not have been more obvious about trying to bail for the Big 12. Well... except for UCONN and the ACC. In any case, I hope WVU loses this lawsuit and gets slapped with some major fines. It may turn out that sitting back and watching schools panic is strong move by UC officials. With all the money that could potentially come back to the conference (TCU - $5mill, WVU - $5mill + ?), there may be a nice little payday for the remaining schools.

[Helicopter]

No, it gets even better. They blatantly leave out Louisville in that statement. Seriously?! Louisville could not have been more obvious about trying to bail for the Big 12. Well... except for UCONN and the ACC. In any case, I hope WVU loses this lawsuit and gets slapped with some major fines. It may turn out that sitting back and watching schools panic is strong move by UC officials. With all the money that could potentially come back to the conference (TCU - $5mill, WVU - $5mill + ?), there may be a nice little payday for the remaining schools.

The lawsuit says: "Upon information and belief, representatives of Louisville, Rutgers, and Cincinnati have been engaged in discussions with [...] the ACC, the Big XII, the SEC, and the Big 10..."

Oddly no UCONN though its mentioned elsewhere their president's statements.

[Helicopter]

This suit seems bizarre to me. They claim material breach (not anticipatory repudiation) and demand injunctive relief and damages (not typically remedies for material breach sounds more like repudiation).

In essence WVU has repudiated their contract obligations with their statements (and this lawsuit).
By doing so the Big XII has committed a civil infraction of their own (tortious interference). If the Big East lawyers (which I pray come from G-town and not Rhode Island) are worth half their salt they'd join the Big XII into this suit and counter sue for fundamental breach of contract with asking for injunctive relief from WVU and damages from Big XII.

[Helicopter]

IMO, WVU will lose this suit. (barring a kangaroo court)

1. They agreed to the rules.
2. The commissioner / big east acted in good faith.
3. The TCU situation was very different.
4. Pitt and Cuse aren't clamoring to sue. They are abiding by the bylaws, only WVU feels it doesn't have to.
5. No evidence of harm. Its all still speculative how much harm will be caused. Courts don't like to make injunctions especially if they have to rely on "if"s (if they lose their AQ, if they lose TV contracts, if they lose money)

I highly highly doubt WVU is successful. I'm interested in hearing what better minds have to opine.

[CaptainProbasco]

Here is the actual link to the lawsuit:

http://www.wboy.com/wboyUploads/SKMB...1103114550.pdf

WVU demands a jury trial

[CaptainProbasco]

It actually does mention UC, UL, and Rutgers as having discussions with other conferences, and mentions UConn's very public courting of the ACC. It also has a typo and says that UConn and Pitt went to the ACC, rather than Syracuse and Pitt.

The only part of their lawsuit that makes any sense starts in paragraph 40. WVU wired half of their withdrawl fee to the BE at the same time as a letter proposing that they be allowed to leave immediately. Since the BE accepted the wire transfer, they think that means that the BE accepted their proposal to leave immediately.

The rest is just b****ing and moaning.

[RedRocker]

It actually does mention UC, UL, and Rutgers as having discussions with other conferences, and mentions UConn's very public courting of the ACC. It also has a typo and says that UConn and Pitt went to the ACC, rather than Syracuse and Pitt.

The only part of their lawsuit that makes any sense starts in paragraph 40. WVU wired half of their withdrawl fee to the BE at the same time as a letter proposing that they be allowed to leave immediately. Since the BE accepted the wire transfer, they think that means that the BE accepted their proposal to leave immediately.

The rest is just b****ing and moaning.

There generally is no formal requirement of an acceptance of a wire transfer at the recipient's end. If WVU had the bank routing number and account number, they could have done this unilaterally without notice given to the Big East until after the letter/email was received.

That will not hold up as acceptance of new contract terms. I hope the BE starts slapping around some of these schools and other conferences: WVU, Big XII, ACC, Pitt and their chancellor.

[RedRocker]

So, we're to believe that all those other schools (UC included) worked behind the scenes to get the heck out of the BE, while good ol' WVU, in good faith, sat idly, hoping against hope that the conference would stick together. Yes, folks, the Mountaineers ... and only the Mountaineers ... are the stalwarts that the rest of the BE needed. They were the only ones with clean hands. Wonderful, pious WVU!

(Yes, this is dripping with sarcasm! Nay, flowing.)

Excellent.

[bearcatd]

"Upon information and belief"

So what does the "belief" part of this mean? Does WVU have information that these schools were doing this, or do they have a belief that that these schools did this. I also like how ESPN picks and chooses which parts of the lawsuit to include in their story. Kind of like how, when CBS sports releases a story, ESPN waits until their reporters confirm it with their sources before reporting it, making it look like an ESPN reporter first reported it.

I think WVU wants to settle something with the Big East (which would make sense for both parties) but the conference wasn't willing to budge so the lawsuit was filed to get this moving. I also think that if the Big East doesn't think WVU's compromise is enough, they will fight the lawsuit. The Big East (non-)invitees will wait until everything is settled to take the offer. It could get worse if the ACC and Big 12 stick their noses in the obligation that WVU, SU and Pitt have to the Big East. So far we haven't heard anything from the latter 2 schools about their wanting to leave earlier. I'm wondering if they have been working with Marinatto (and Big East "leadership") to get out of their 27 month commitment. This will be interesting.

For the record, if UC were invited to another conference, I would want them to be able to leave as soon as possible. If their contract says they have to stay 27 weeks, I hope they could negotiate to get out but a contract is a contract (says Mike Brown). I'm sure they could work to get out of it but WVU's way of doing it isn't the most tactful way...unless the Big East just wasn't willing to budge...which is possible.

[bearcat25]

Maybe we could take the $12.5 million the Big East has collected so far and send Marinatto a severance. We could surely have $12.25 million left, right?

I hope this clown is shown the door.

[Bearcat Chris]

WV Files Suit Against Big East!

They want out, early!

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/st...john-marinatto

B.C.

[righthook]

No mention of WVU contributing to the destablization by begging the ACC and SEC and being denied?