[Husker] buyout penalties (fwd)

[Nick Chevance]

On Thu, Jun 17, 2010 at 8:28 AM, David Strong <gbrlist at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> I wish we would just pay whatever penalty we need to to leave peacefully.  No more grousing, bickering, fighting, etc.  It just makes us look bad and protracts this relationship in a nasty way.  I'd love to have it over and done with as quickly and smoothly as possible, yes even if we are in the right and could possibly get out of paying.  The problem with that is...it's sooooo much money.  No one is really certain of the numbers but 9 - 12 million seems to be the ballpark and that ain't hayseed.  I guess it's worth fighting for but hopefully there can be a settlement without too much grief and we can move on.
>
> Dave

I'm no lawyer but after doing a little reading on liquidated damages,
it seems the payment of those damages can't be punative.  In other
words, they have to actually consist of real damages (loss of
something tangible, i.e., money), and they have to be 'reasonable' to
the actual damages.  They can't be aimed at harming the offending
party (that's us and CU, maybe).  That's why I think this 80% of two
years proceeds is likely to be the highest amount possible, but the
bylaws are clear that the actual damages cannot be known at the time
the agreement was executed.  That means there will be negotiation,
likely with an arbitrator, to work out what the actual damages are and
how much of the potential amount will satisfy the offended part.  I
suspect it will be much less than the reported amount that Beebe has
been promising the universities.  This is likely to be settled
quietly, I would guess.  Nobody wants to be the top story on
Sportscenter for a non-athletic event.  That would be bad for everyone
involved.

Nick
-- 
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