A hearing will begin in Monongalia County Circuit Court Thursday morning and set another page in the ongoing legal battle between WVU and former football coach Rich Rodriguez.

According to The Daily Athenaeum, Judge Robert Stone will hear motions related to the University’s lawsuit claiming that Rodriguez violated his contract’s $4 million buyout clause last year with his departure to University of Michigan.

The hearing should address WVU’s motion for partial dismissal of Rodriguez’s counterclaims, as well as its motions to expedite the trial and requests to compel the former coach to produce evidence.

Rodriguez’s countersuit states that his contract with WVU is not enforceable under state law. He claims that the University violated the contract terms first by breaching oral promises that lead to the coach’s decision to sign in 2007.

Rodriguez’s lawyers filed a reply brief to WVU’s motion for partial dismissal Tuesday, said Marv Robon, a lawyer representing Rodriguez.

“Why would you make comments or promises that you couldn’t keep? They’re hiding behind parol evidence rule, saying, ‘Even if we lie to you, it doesn’t matter,’” Robon said. “I find out he (President Mike Garrison) is a lawyer with a law degree, and when he made the verbal promises, he knew they might not be valid. It’s like letting a fox in a hen house.”

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