A lawsuit filed Feb. 4 by Dickinson School of Law Board of Governors members G. Thomas Miller, Leslie Anne Miller and Thomas Monteverde will be heard today, and could alter future relations between Penn State and the law school.

The trial will take place at noon in the Cumberland County Courthouse in Carlisle. Judge Edward Guido will preside over the hearing.

The Millers and Monteverde are asking Guido to overturn a new dual-campus plan approved Jan. 15 by the Board of Governors and Jan. 21 by Penn State's Board of Trustees because they say it violates the original agreement signed by the two schools in 1997.

Under the new agreement, Penn State would have the power to close the law school's Carlisle campus after 2015.

Penn State spokesman Steve MacCarthy said Penn State feels the suit has no merit and wants to "get [the trial] over with as quickly as possible."

MacCarthy said the lawsuit could potentially hinder investments for planned renovations of the Carlisle law school campus as well as the construction of a new law school at University Park.

"Obviously anything that doesn't have finality can create a problem for potential investors," he said.

G. Thomas Miller declined to comment because he is a plaintiff in the lawsuit.

"I'm a party in the impending litigation court, so I don't think it would be suitable for me to comment," he said. He added that all details would be revealed at the trial.

Board of Governors member Jason Kutulakis said he feels that the lawsuit is an appropriate step in trying to overturn the current plan.

"I don't think that it is vain in any attempt," he said. "I think that if its aim is to try to keep the board from dissolving and to keep the school in Carlisle, then it could do that."

He also said the lawsuit is not aimed at offending Penn State.

"We don't want to offend or dissolve the bond between the two schools," he said. "I hope that Penn State, and Graham Spanier in particular, are willing to revisit their positions and their desire to dissolve the Board of Governors."

Sandor Yelen, another Board of Governors member, said he is more concerned with the movement of the law school from Carlisle to University Park.

"I think it is unwise and a catastrophe to close the law school in 2015," he said. "We've got outstanding graduates, and we were number one [in Pennsylvania] in the bar exam, so I see no need for a dual campus."

Yelen added the move is only to satisfy Penn State's need for a law school.

Dickinson School of Law Dean Phillip McConnaughay and Penn State attorney Wendell Courtney declined to comment on the proceedings until after the trial concludes.

The Carlisle Sentinel reported that Board of Governors Chairman H. Laddie Montague Jr. suggested that the plaintiffs post $20 million in compensation for the loss in fundraising, should plans for the dual campus be halted because of the lawsuit.

Montague denied making the claim and said he would not make any decisions regarding the matter until after the trial.

"I'm planning to appear at the trial, and that's about all I know right now," he said.