Clemson-ACC lawsuit update from Charlotte Commercial Court

Charlotte, North Carolina

A North Carolina judge promised to issue rulings Tuesday morning on two motions in the ACC vs. Clemson case in Charlotte before the two sides face off again next week in South Carolina in a similar case.

The pending decisions by North Carolina Commercial Court Chief Judge Louis A. Bledsoe III will be the next step in the ongoing lawsuits and could shed light on where they will ultimately be heard, a crucial first step in the legal process.

After hearing about an hour of arguments from both sides Tuesday morning, Bledsoe pledged to issue rulings on Clemson’s motion to dismiss the ACC lawsuit and Clemson’s motion to stay the ACC lawsuit by the end of next week.

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Clemson sued the ACC in Pickens County, South Carolina (where it is headquartered) on March 19, challenging the conference’s “grant of rights” and the high exit fee required of any school wishing to leave the ACC for another conference (which the Tigers are seriously considering in terms of reorganizing) in the case Clemson v. ACC.

ACC, in turn, filed a counterclaim against Clemson in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina (where the company is headquartered in Charlotte), asking the court to declare the grant of rights and exit fee “valid and enforceable” while also seeking damages from Clemson for violating that GOR in the ACC v. Clemson case.

Bledsoe’s rulings on two motions detailed in Tuesday’s hearings could be big news for the trial. If he denies Clemson’s motions to dismiss and/or stay the Charlotte proceedings, it would be a “victory” for the ACC, which has argued all along that North Carolina is the proper forum to hear the case.

If Bledsoe rules in Clemson’s favor, however, it would feel more like an unexpected “victory” for the university, which had argued that South Carolina was the proper jurisdiction because Clemson filed the lawsuit first and has sovereign immunity, so it cannot be sued outside its own state.

Legal experts surveyed by The State and other media outlets found more credence in the ACC’s argument, and the general feeling is that the ACC-Clemson lawsuits will ultimately be heard (and perhaps consolidated into one case) in Charlotte. Bledsoe’s pending rulings will be a test of that theory.

Clemson athletic director Graham Neff attended the hearing Tuesday at the Mecklenburg County Courthouse along with four university attorneys. The ACC brought several attorneys, but Commissioner Jim Phillips did not attend the hearing/case management conference.

This is a developing story that will be updated.