UPDATE -- Leon County judge denies three counts in ACC motion to dismiss Florida State TV rights lawsuit
5:02 P.M. UPDATE — Judge John C. Cooper of Leon County has denied counts two and three of the Atlantic Coast Conference’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by Florida State.
EARLIER REPORT
In late April, lawyers representing Florida State were forced to amend their complaint against the Atlantic Coast Conference in order to avoid dismissal of the university’s Leon County-based lawsuit.
Standing before Leon County Circuit Judge John C. Cooper on Tuesday afternoon, legal teams from both sides were informed that FSU’s amendment was strong enough for Cooper to deny the ACC’s motion to dismiss for personal jurisdiction.
The ruling came after a morning and early afternoon of arguments from both camps.
Lawyers for both sides clarified their positions on jurisdiction — whether the state of Florida is the appropriate forum for this suit to be heard. In a previous hearing, Cooper was critical of the ACC for what he termed “forum shopping” by suing FSU in North Carolina for a more lenient setting.
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“I have found that the complaint sufficiently alleges that the ACC operates a significant business in Florida regarding exercise of FSU’s media rights,” Cooper said in his ruling, “using those media rights as a source of programming for the ACC Network and/or licensing to ESPN to use for certain payments.
“I don’t think it’s any secret.”
Florida State is in court seeking a path to exit the ACC without paying more than $500 million in exit fees and the cost of buying back its media rights. The ACC is also suing FSU in North Carolina for breach of contract.
Click here to see real-time updates from Tuesday’s hearing, as it happened.
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