West Virginia, as it said it would a little over a week ago, has replied to the Big East’s motion to dismiss the school’s lawsuit against the conference in the Monongalia County Circuit Court.
That motion from the Big East came on Dec. 5.
And... the response is pretty much what one would expect. WVU lawyers, according to documents obtained by MCCC, claim the “Big East ignores the fact that WVU is an arm of the state of West Virginia and should not amenable to the judicial process as a defendant in Rhode Island” and that if the rights of a West Virginia trial are ignored, the “ultimate outcome could be a dispute between the State of Rhode Island and the State of West Virginia.”
Essentially, WVU is arguing -- just as they have all along -- that the institution is an alter ego of the state; whatever harm WVU suffers in the court of law by not having a trial within state borders, the state of West Virginia suffers as well.
A hearing on WVU’s motion to dismiss is set for Dec. 16 in Rhode Island, where the Big East headquarters are located. A trial is tentatively set for June 25 of next year; WVU hopes to be out of the Big East by June 30.
Earlier this week, the Big East formally introduced five new members -- both full and football-only -- that would join the conference by 2013: Boise State, Central Florida, Houston, San Diego State and SMU. Big East commissioner John Marinatto said that the addition of the new members would not have any impact on the league’s 27-month waiting policy for departure, which is at the center of the lawsuits.