Life meet Law School. Law School meet Life.

As many of you out there in internetland may have already known, I am both a University of Michigan alum and a current law student. Since I go to a law school hundreds of miles and three or four states away from Michigan there are not many Michigan grads in my class. Given this, my love for all things Michigan and my acceptance of all things law rarely collide. If I read something for fun it is Michigan related. If I read something for school, it is most decidedly not Michigan related. Now, however, thanks to my Civil Procedure professor and his interests in both all things civil procedure related and all things sports related, my two worlds have become one. That is right, for my Civ Pro homework today I have to read a couple of motions submitted by the parties in the West Virginia University Board of Governors v. Richard Rodriguez. As you know, Rich Rodriguez, the glorious new head football coach of the Michigan Wolverines, has been dastardly and cowardly sued by the evil and infamous West Virginia Mountaineers. If you are unaware of what is going on here is a quick recap:
1. West Virginia hires alumnus Rich Rodriquez to replace Don Nehlen as head football coach.
2. Rodriguez does pretty well considering he had to replace a Michigan grad.
3. WVU wins a few games in the Big East and become national contenders.
4. Rodriguez gets offered a job at Alabama for a lot of money.
5. WVU promises Rodriguez the world if he would stay at WVU.
6. Rodriguez says okay to WVU but only if he gets a bunch of stuff.
7. WVU says okay.
8. Rodriguez receives a draft of the contract and sits on it for six months becuase it has a buyout clause that he does not want in there.
9. The governor of WV, the president of WVU, and the athletic director of WVU all say that the buyout clause will not be enforced and they don't want it in there either but also tell Rodriguez that he should sign right now anyway because they want to look like there is harmony amongst all parties.
10. Rodriguez coaches the 2007 season and kicks all butt except for Pittsburgh and as a result they don't get to go to the national championship. All the while, WVU doesn't follow through on any of the promises it made to Rodriguez and flat out tells him they don't have to do squat.
11. Michigan, being a wonderful and charitable university, offers Rodriguez a job and promises him he can pretty much have full control of the program.
12. Rodriguez accepts the job and tells WVU that while they can still be friends, they have to go their seperate ways.
13. The entire state of West Virginia explodes into rage. All things Rodriguez are outlawed, he is banned from the state and ordered never to return. His family is chastized, assaulted, harassed, and threatened.
14. Rodriguez establishes residency in the state of Michigan.
15. WVU files suit in a WV state court against Rodriguez for a $4 million dollar buyout.
16. Rodriguez says to WVU, you kicked me out of the state and I was forced to become a resident of Michigan so if you want to sue me, sue me in a federal court.
17. WVU says no you are a resident of WV because we have a much better shot here where everyone hates you.
18. Rodriguez says, look WVU, you are acting like a bunch of petulent children. In the name of good faith and peace I will put up a $1.5 million letter of credit with the court. If you want to be adults about the whole thing take the money and go on with your life. I wish you the best.
19. WVU to Rodriguez: F--- You!

Okay so that wasn't exactly brief (nor unbiased) but it should get you up to speed. Anyway, in my Civil Procedure class we are discussing jurisdictional matters and what cases are allowed to be heard in federal courts and which ones are not based on the citizenship of the parties. This case is a great example of how things work because Rodriguez was a resident of WV at one point but now he may not be anymore and wants the case moved from state court to federal court. WVU obviously wants to keep the case in state court so they have moved to keep it there by saying that Rodriquez is not a Michigan citizen and that the university is not a citizen of WV for diversity purposes. Crazy stuff. I will keep you up to date with things that transpire both in court and in class.

PS. It is snowing today and St. Louis drivers have absolutely no clue how to drive in the snow so if you live in the St. Louis area when you are driving please don't freak out, hit the brake hard, lose control of your car, and hit me. If you do I am a law student and am learning how to sue people.

Draft Day Classic Countdown Begins Now

It is only 93 days until the real tradition unlike any other, The NFL Draft Day Classic. This year the host city, Chicago, Illinois, has spared no expense readying the city for the expected crowds that come with the DDC. Mayor Daly created a DDC task force three years ago to impliment an urban DDC strategy. "Until recently the DDC has been held in cities with modest population and infrastructure. As a result, the DDC was able to use the vast amounts of vacant space for their own uses." DDC Committee member and consultant to the task force, Matthew Nolan explained, "With Chicago, there is a lot of space that will not be availible for DDC purposes. All in all, the DDC will only have access to roughly 73% of the land and buildings within the city limits." The DDC's main event, of course, is the golf tournament. This year the location of the tournament is a closely held secret known only to Nolan. Stay tuned for more.

I, I, I'm still alive. Oh Ohhh I, I, I'm still alive.

It was recently brought to my attention that it has been over a month since I posted anything to this the world's greatest and most informative blog ever. I haven't been in a coma or anything I was just enjoying my Christmas break. For those many, many readers out there here is a list of stuff that has happened since my last post:
1. Michigan hired Rich Rodriquez. (Yey! The Big Blue meets the Big Spread.)
2. I took four law school exams. (Boo to studying but yey to them being done.)
3. Rich Rodriquez established residencey in the great state of Michigan. (Yey to job creating Michigan.)
4. I went Christmas shopping. (Boo to bank account, Yey to people seemed to like most of them.)
5. I opened Christmas presents. (Yey! Rowing machine and yey! Tivo.)
6. West Virginia University filed a law suit against Rich Rodriquez in a West Virginia state court. (Boo!)
7. Michigan beats the tar (read: won a thriller) out of Florida and sends Lloyd Carr out a winner. (Yey to Lloyd!)
8. West Virginia complains that Rich Rodriquez shredded ten rooms full of every incriminating evidence against him and erased 18 minutes of secret recordings of conversations held in his office.
9. Rich Rodriquez moves to have the lawsuit tried in federal court. (Yey! Damn local bias, we're going to the feds because we have diversity like a mo-fo.)
10. WVU says Rodriquez refutes federal jurisdiction because they say Rodriquez is still a WV resident because that is where WVU fans keep sending him death threats and letter bombs. (Boo to counterclaims by vindictive universities.)
11. The new semester of law school starts. (Yay to...umm...things?)

There are plenty of other things that happened, including things that actually happened to me but I will get to those things at a later date. Until then, up your hole with peace, love, and soul.