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Titans vs. Trojans

No, this is not some reimagination of Homer's classic. Rather it is the lawsuit that the Tennessee Titans filed today against the U$C Trojans and Lane Kiffin for intentional interference with contract.

For the college football fans out there studying for the bar, this can be a nice (if not comical) way to review some key concepts: jurisdiction, diversity of citizenship, notice pleading, etc.  For a complaint written over the weekend, it's not bad. It even has gratuitous jabs at my sanctioned rival:

On Friday, July 22, 2010, while the Pola Contract was still in full force, Kiffin, individually and in his capacity as agent of USC, in furtherance of a culture of violation and avoidance of respect for the sanctity of contract, which Kiffin similarly practices...

Compl., ¶ 15 (emphasis added).  But is that enough? I don't know enough (or anything) about Tennessee law to say for sure, but it sure doesn't look like it.  A quick search on Google Scholar revealed the elements of the Titans' statutory and common law causes of action are the same. Hauck Mfg. Co. v. Astec. Industries, Inc., 375 F. Supp. 2d 649, 659 (E.D. Tenn. 2004) ("In order to recover under either the common law or statutory action, a plaintiff must prove (1) there was a legal contract; (2) the defendant was aware of the contract; (3) the defendant maliciously intended to induce a breach; and (4) the defendant's actions proximately caused a breach and resulting damages").  Is there enough to show that USC maliciously intended to induce breach? Hard to say without looking at a lot of Tennessee cases on the definition of maliciously inducing, unfair or deceptive practices, and the other elements.  But at first blush, there's just nothing in the complaint that indicates any unfair or deceptive practice.  You can always offer someone a better contract.  You can't do so unfairly or deceptively.  

So why the quick lawsuit by the Titans?  Isn't the normal way to work these things out to ask USC to buy out the remainder of the contract or something?  I think the barbs in ¶¶ 15-16, especially the allegations that Kiffin went after Vikings (and former UCLA) RB coach Eric Bienemy, smell like some sort of bad blood that goes beyond the simple hiring of a coach.  Me thinks the State of Tennessee will not forgive Lane Kiffin for "abruptly depart[ing] after one season, leaving the University of Tennessee without an experienced football coach. . ."  Compl., ¶ 16.  And the Bienemy allegation implies other teams in the league may have been equally ticked off...just lacked the proper motivation to air it in open court.

Full post as published by Nuts & Boalts on July 26, 2010 (boomark / email).