Clemson bid to nix ACC countersuit in N

David Hale, ESPN Personnel WriterJul 10, 2024, 02:57 PM ET

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• College football reporter.Joined ESPN in 2012. Graduate of the University of Delaware.The stalemate in between the ACC and the 2 schools challenging its

grant of rights continued Wednesday when a North Carolina judge rejected Clemson’s movement to dismiss the ACC countersuit, suggesting the 2 sides will proceed to trial in two different jurisdictions.Judge Louis Bledsoe, who is likewise overseeing the ACC’s fit versus Florida State, ruled that the ACC did have jurisdiction to

file its suit in a Mecklenburg County court. Clemson had aimed to have the fit remained or dismissed based on a sovereign immunity claim. “The only court that has jurisdiction over FSU, Clemson, and the ACC– and therefore the only court that can assure a consistent, consistent interpretation of the Grant of Rights Agreements and the ACC’s Constitution and Bylaws, the determinations at the core of the Pending Actions– is a North Carolina court,” Bledsoe composed in his decision.Florida State made the same claim as Clemson in March, and Bledsoe likewise denied the Seminoles’motion. The major difference in the 2 cases is that the ACC filed its fit against FSU before the Seminoles filed theirs in Florida, whereas Clemson was very first to the courthouse in its effort to nullify the league’s grant of rights.”We are pleased with today’s ruling as it validates that just a North Carolina court can render a choice that would use to both Clemson and Florida State. The opinion likewise strengthens what

the ACC has actually plainly articulated from the first day– the North Carolina courts are the correct location to enforce and translate the ACC’s arrangements, “the ACC said in a declaration. “As the court discovered, Clemson does not challenge whether the ACC Grant of Rights is valid or enforceable. This recognizes the ACC’s constant position that the 2013 and 2016 Grant of Rights stand and enforceable agreements that each of our members participated in willingly, with complete understanding of their terms.”The current judgment indicates all four cases will continue in three different jurisdictions: Florida State vs. the ACC in Leon County, Florida, and Clemson vs. the ACC in Pickens County, South Carolina– which both goal to check the league’s capability to implement its grant of rights

— and the ACC’s suits against Florida State and Clemson, both in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, which intend to promote the grant of rights.In his judgment, Bledsoe suggested a debt consolidation of all 4 fits adjudicated in North Carolina would be the most sensible advance to offer a binding resolution.Clemson has actually repeatedly stated its suit is not a specific transfer to leave the ACC however rather to figure out the cost of such a move. The league’s grant of rights seemingly needs any school leaving the conference to quit its media rights for home games till 2036 in addition to paying an exit charge equivalent to three times yearly income.

Florida State’s representatives have recommended this could total up to as much as$ 700 million. Clemson argues in its fit that, to name a few things, the grant of rights no longer uses as soon as the school chooses to leave the conference.Bledsoe did rule in Clemson’s favor on several smaller issues, dismissing the ACC’s claims that Clemson breached its fiduciary duties and acted in bad faith by filing its own lawsuits.Clemson and the ACC are due in court Friday in Pickens County for another hearing.