UPDATE- 9/24/10 4:30 PM: UCF Spokesman Grant Heston released this statement on behalf of UCF:
“We respect Judge Evans’ decision, but respectfully disagree. The law and state statutes clearly show that the UCF Athletics Association is a state agency and subject to sovereign immunity. We will evaluate all of our options, and an appeal is certainly one of them.”
We will continue to update this story as it develops.
UCF attorneys reportedly suffered what could be one of their costliest losses yet Friday afternoon, when a judge ruled against the University and its Athletics Association’s attempts to cap the pay out to the family of a dead UCF football player at $200,000.
Now, the family of Ereck Plancher can sue UCFAA for tens of millions of dollars. UCFAA is funded by student athletic fees and has reportedly enjoyed big loans from UCF during the state budget crisis.
The University lawyers argued its private Athletics Association was a state agency, and protected by a $200,000 sovereign immunity cap. After that argument, the Orlando Sentinel published a scathing editorial about UCF trying to have it both ways — in essence by arguing its Athletics Association is a public agency when it could save millions in a lawsuit, but claiming sweeping records exemptions and enjoying less oversight in daily operations.
Attorneys for the Plancher family argued UCFAA was made so the UCF Knights athletic program could be run without worrying about state laws that typically govern state agencies. The UCFAA is expected to appeal the ruling, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
The legal loss against UCF comes as KnightNews.com renews its investigation into the University’s Student Government Association’s provisions for secret meetings that lawyers from Miami to Tallahassee have called illegal. In August, under pressure from KnightNews.com and its attorney, UCF’s SGA announced it would review the statutes legal experts say break Florida Sunshine Law.
KnightNews.com has received no substantive update on the review — several weeks later.
During a SGA Senate meeting Thursday night, it appeared no senators were informed of any review when KnightNews.com addressed the body, even though that’s the body that would vote to make any changes.
Check back for updates on these major stories.
