A North Carolina judge has reportedly sent a dispute between the University of Maryland and the Atlantic Coast Athletic Conference (ACC) to mediation. The disagreement apparently arose in November 2012 after Maryland announced that the school would withdraw from the ACC and move to the Big Ten athletic conference on July 1, 2014. According to its complaint, the ACC is seeking approximately $52 million in damages from the University of Maryland over the withdrawal. The school responded by filing a counterclaim that accuses the athletic conference of violating federal antitrust law. Although the mediator assigned to the case is not authorized to force the parties to settle, the court’s move was purportedly designed to encourage a resolution before the scheduled realignment takes effect.