Thursday, January 24, 2008

WVU Moves to Remand

As expected, WVU has moved to remand its case against you-know-who back to state circuit court.  Copies of the motion to remand and the accompanying memorandum of law can be found here.   The motion was filed last Friday.  Also as expected,  the attorneys for WVU argue that (1) under the alter-ego doctrine, WVU is an arm of the state and therefore not a "citizen"  under the diversity statute and (2) Rodriguez was still a citizen of West Virginia at the time the suit was filed.

Somewhat more surprisingly, perhaps, Judge Keeley decided yesterday to reassign the case to the docket of U.S. District Judge John Bailey.  Any thoughts on how this move will impact the case?

Update/Addition:  WVU also filed an amended complaint on Friday, adding a breach of contract claim after Rodriguez failed to make the first scheduled payment on the $4 million buyout.  A very rough copy of the amended complaint can be found here (sorry, haven't found the PDF yet).

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