(03-23-2014 12:29 PM)Lurker Above Wrote: (03-23-2014 09:10 AM)TerryD Wrote: (03-23-2014 02:33 AM)Tbringer Wrote: (03-22-2014 02:22 PM)CrazyPaco Wrote: (03-22-2014 01:46 PM)Kaplony Wrote: As I have said before Maryland has been involved in the decision making since 1953, so they know where the bodies are buried. The fact that the ACC has been ran like a small town country club is going to bite them in the end, and I highly doubt that even the corrupt NC judicial system can bail them out of this one. This case gets settled for significantly less than what the ACC has pushed for.
Sad thing is the ACC fanboys on this board will still try to claim a victory.
It sounds like a fishing expedition. An attempt to try to push a settlement by making cumbersome requests and/or a try at obfuscating the issues when you don't find the law so clearly on your side. I don't believe it is an uncommon tactic, and to me it reeks more of desperation than of knowing where any bodies are buried.
In court you can't just "know", you have to prove. Maryland probably knows many things about the inner working of the ACC when they took schools from other conferences or moved on their new buyout fees. They still have to prove everything in court though and that's why you would go after documents. Doesn't reflect any desperation, just sound legal maneuvers.
Maryland "knows" because Maryland has their own hands full of any "muck" people think will be uncovered during discovery.
It took part in all of these decisions and voted in favor of them along with all of the other Old Guard ACC schools.
Their hands are full of the same "blood" that other people want them to "expose".
None of that will help them with their legal case. They would have the same "unclean hands" as their court opponent.
TerryD, I think you and most of the posters on here are a little off course with the contention Maryland's strategy is nothing more than churn up "muck" and "blood". What is legally significant in this case as it pertains to antitrust and unfair business practices is defining the "market" of schools that the ACC competes.
As for going back 12 years in its discovery requests, I believe Maryland's purpose for doing so is to show the ACC and the B1G compete in the same market for schools in the northeast. It will be hard for the ACC to deny this when they have added VT, BC, Syracuse, and Pitt, while the B1G has added PSU, Rutgers and most significantly, Maryland from the ACC.
Maryland does not need muck or blood from ESPN or the Big East raids to win its case. Maryland needs information to show market, value and competition for schools. It does not need to show ESPN induced any school to move, only that ESPN, if asked, gave honest assessments they would pay more. That is the all important line that ESPN has consistently stated it does not cross, most recently just this weekend, and it would be highly unlikely for ESPN, in my opinion, to have crossed that line. That is corporate business 101.
The only muck Maryland needs is the penal exit fee. The contention the ACC violated its own Bylaws is gravy, albeit delicious gravy for the stuffing Maryland is about to knock out of the ACC.
No, I understand about "market".
It is just, in my opinion, Maryland has as much chance of winning an anti-trust case as I do in hitting the Powerball.
I think that this is just typical discovery stuff I see every day in my legal practice that is just a lead up to a mediation or a direct party settlement.
I think it is mostly just tactical stuff to lead into serious negotiations.
I have never thought for one second that the ACC would win on the $52 million exit fee issue and have so stated here and elsewhere often.
So, here is how I view things:
1) The ACC cannot collect $52 million as an exit fee.
2) The Maryland anti-trust counterclaims are mostly BS.
3) Maryland agreed to the prior $20 million exit fee. In fact, they PUSHED for them. It will be very hard for them to say "Oh, never mind".
So, I see this case as having a value to the ACC somewhere north of $20 million and well south of $52 million.
Throw out the $52 million ACC claims and the Maryland anti-trust claims and where will the settlement fall ?????
I have always thought it will come in around $27 million, plus or minus a million or two.
I have no "dog in this fight". None of this money is going to go into my pocket.
I am no "fanboy" of the ACC. I dislike all conferences, almost equally.
This case has nothing to do with the survival of the ACC and hence a place to park ND's non-football programs.
So, it is no skin off my nose if the ACC has to take less or pay money to Maryland. That money isn't out of my pocket, either.
I am just looking at this case as a lawyer with 27 years of commercial litigation experience.
I am often wrong but never shy with my opinions. :)