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Nutt's Lawsuit Against Ole Miss Dismissed By District Judge
Photo by Steven Gagliano
Houston Nutt’s lawsuit against the Ole Miss Athletics Foundation, the University Of Mississippi, And The Board Of Trustees For Institutions Of Higher Learning has been dismissed by a district judge due to a “lack of subject matter jurisdiction”, after the University filed a motion for dismissal on July 27.
In the motion for dismissal, the University stated that Nutt “misrepresented citizenship” of the defendants and therefore is unable to file a suit against them.
“Nutt has attempted to create jurisdiction where none exists by misrepresenting the citizenship of the University of Mississippi and the IHL Board. As a court of limited jurisdiction, this Court should dismiss this action in its entirety. Alternatively, this Court should dismiss the claims against the University and the IHL Board based on their Eleventh Amendment immunity.”
Court documents show that the decision is based on the following.
“Defendants argue that jurisdiction is lacking because both The University of Mississippi and the Board of Trustees for Institutions of Higher Learning are arms of the state of Mississippi and, consequently, are not “citizens” of any state for purposes of diversity jurisdiction.
”In response to the instant motion, the plaintiff concedes that the defendants’ argument is meritorious and asserts “it is agreed that this court lacks subject matter jurisdiction.” The court points out that the claims filed by the plaintiff involve no federal statutes or U.S. Constitution claims and are all state law claims, and therefore, since the issues are not between “citizens of different states,” the federal court lacks jurisdiction under the pleadings as presented.
Earlier this week, a report from Yahoo’s Pat Forde stated that Nutt wanted the University to settle the case by paying $500K to fund a commission on integrity in Mississippi college sports.
Nutt’s attorney, Tom Mars, can re-file the case in State Court, and he told USA Today that he intends to do so.
Steven Gagliano is the managing editor of HottyToddy.com. He can be reached at steven.gagliano@hottytoddy.com.
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