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When Academic Interests Meet: Thank you, Rich Rodriguez

By Rick Karcher, Michael McCann, Geoffrey Rapp, Greg Skidmore, and Howard Wasserman

I got involved in this forum because of the overlap between sport and one of my primary scholarly interests--free speech. It is nice to see one time in which sport meets my other scholarly interest--civil procedure geekiness.

West Virginia last month sued former football coach Rich Rodriguez in state court in West Virginia seeking to recover on a $ 4 million buyout clause in Rodriguez's contract, after the coach left WVU to become head coach at Michigan. Today, Rodriguez removed the case to federal court; Rodriguez argues there is federal jurisdiction over the case because he was, at the time the lawsuit was filed, already a citizen of Michigan. The theory underlying diversity always has been that an out-of-stater should be able to avoid the likely local bias by proceeding in federal court, where judge and jury are deemed to be insulated by local passions. I guess that is even more true for a football coach who just jilted an entire state. As Prof. Steve Gensler said in a list serv comment, "I guess Rich Rod didn?t like the idea of facing a Monongalia County jury (or judge)."

The key is how quickly Rodriguez was able to change his citizenship. The petition alleges that in the eleven days between his hiring (December 16) and the suit (December 27), Rodriguez became a Michigan citizen because hand his wife registered to vote in Michigan, obtained Michigan drivers' licenses, and set up home and office in a new state. Pretty quick moving.

I already have made copies of the petition to distribute to my students.

Full post as published by Sports Law Blog on January 16, 2008 (boomark / email).