Pac-12 legal affairs: Washington’s highest court issues stay, delaying board takeover by WSU and OSU

The stay provides time for the sides to file their legal briefs

The Pac-12’s legal squabble took an expected turn Thursday when the Washington Supreme Court temporarily halted the implementation of a ruling issued earlier this week that gave Washington State and Oregon State control of the conference.

The court’s deputy commissioner issued a temporary stay of a preliminary injunction, which is largely procedural in nature:

It allows both the plaintiffs (WSU and OSU) and the defendant, Washington, to file legal briefs before the Evergreen State’s highest court decides whether to rule on an emergency stay motion.

The Cougars and Beavers issued a joint statement right away:

“The departing schools are only delaying the inevitable because the superior court clearly got it right: Under the bylaws, the Conference’s future must be decided by the schools that stay, not those that are leaving.”

The news comes just two days after a Whitman County (Wash.) Superior Court judge ruled that the Cougars and Beavers were the only remaining members of the Pac-12’s governing board, giving them control over the league’s revenues and assets.

However, Judge Gary Libey stayed his ruling until early next week in order to give Washington, acting on behalf of the other nine departing schools, time to seek review from the state’s supreme court. WSU and OSU did not object to the stay.

That ruling in eastern Washington was followed 24 hours later by a motion for an emergency stay filed by attorneys for the University of Washington.

The Huskies warned in the filing that if WSU and OSU gain control of the conference’s board, they “will be free to swiftly re-write the Conference’s rules, terminate or suspend members, and distribute the Conference’s hundreds of millions of dollars in revenues to the detriment of the student-athletes of the ten remaining Conference members.”

There is no indication that WSU or OSU plan to kick any of the outgoing schools out of the conference. This would impair the Pac-12’s ability to stage the competitions at the heart of the media contracts that provide the defendants with the revenue they seek.

Furthermore, Libey’s decision made it clear that he would not tolerate board bullying.

“This is not a shutout” in favor of WSU and OSU, Libey stated following his decision. “The (preliminary injunction) will be modified to ensure that the other ten are still treated fairly… Nobody will take advantage of someone else.”

The decision issued Thursday in Olympia upholds a temporary restraining order (TRO) issued by Libey in September. This order forbids the Pac-12’s governing board from acting without the unanimous consent of all 12 schools.

No consequential decisions can be made while the TRO is still in effect.

The Cougars and Beavers believe they are the only legitimate members of the board and that the outgoing schools have relinquished their seats.

The two schools must develop a competition strategy for the 2024-25 sports season and must have access to Pac-12 resources in order to schedule games for their teams.