As I sat in the courtroom this morning, trying valiantly to keep up with everything everyone was saying, I thought to myself, “You know what this reminds me of? Indentured servitude!” And wouldn’t you know it, I wasn’t the only one witnessing or participating in West Virginia University Board of Governors v. Rodriguez who had that very thought.

“It’s like back before the Civil War when slaves had the right to buy their freedom,” said Marv Robon, one of Rodriguez’s lawyers. “A penalty of $4 million is almost like a slave from Africa trying to buy his freedom in America. I think it’s an outrageous amount. It’s just not fair and it’s not related to any damages the university is suffering.”

I’ve never covered anything like this before, but the first day was quite entertaining. I particularly liked when Team Rodriguez entered the courtroom literally minutes before the hearing began. Toward the end of the session, WVU lawyer Thomas Flaherty was about to talk about an appropriate time frame in which to file a motion, wait for a response and then submit a reply when he said, “I intended to speak with the defendant’s counsel about this this morning, but they arrived just before we started.” There were other zingers traded between sides. Robon, not to be outdone, accused WVU President Mike Garrison of lying to Rodriguez and then asked rhetorically if that was what was taught at WVU’s law school. Who knew this would be so fun!

There were a few highlights, for me, at least:

1) Robon’s assertion that WVU has only suffered to the tune of between $150,000 and $250,000 and, as such, Rodriguez shouldn’t have to pay any other amount in liquidated damages. It reminded me of the time when I was younger and a place I worked for was being sued for wrongful termination. The rumor was that the litigant asked for a rather robust figure. I assume it was hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions. The counter offer? Two weeks pay!

2) WVU Foundation lawyer Steve Crislip took noticeable pleasure in his cameo appearance. He immediately criticized Team Rodriguez for sloppy paperwork and a failure to meet deadlines, picked apart the insistence the Foundation be named as a third party and a defendant in the counterclaim against WVU and then revealed Team Rodriguez had innocuously changed its mind and instead wanted to include the Foundation as a co-plaintiff. Crislip wryly pointed out that it wasn’t a permissible maneuver and that he and Judge Robert Stone learned that in law school. To top it off, Crislip announced he was going to sue Team Rodriguez for the costs endured as a participant in the lawsuit. Just a fantastic five minutes.

3) Stone on opening depositions to the public and why it can’t and won’t happen: “You’d probably have to rent out the football stadium to do it.”