A group of Louisville fans has hired an attorney to sue the NCAA over lost championship

A group of University of Louisville supporters has hired an attorney to sue the NCAA over the loss of Louisville's 2013 men's basketball championship.

The University of Louisville Protection and Advocacy Coalition, which is calling itself Louisville PAC, has enlisted Louisville attorney Robert Florio, who said he is working on a suit that will charge the NCAA with breach of fiduciary duty, unjust enrichment and arbitrary and capricious treatment of a member school.

Florio said the suit will ask for the return of Louisville's title and the 123 vacated wins, along with any money the NCAA made from Louisville and use of its trademarks. He said the NCAA did not offer due process to Louisville in investigating claims a former basketball staff member paid women to dance for and have sex with recruits and players and that the NCAA did not treat Louisville fairly when compared to punishments handed down to other schools in handing down penalties.

"It's a trust principle," Florio said. "If you're a trustee, you can't single out one of your beneficiaries in a better or in a worse way than another one of your beneficiaries."

Florio said he did not know if Louisville PAC officials had contacted Louisville.

'They can't take this one': Taj Louisville hung its own NCAA title banner in downtown

Background: University of Louisville has lost its 2013 national championship banner

University of Louisville Athletic Association board member and former university trustee Bill Stone said Friday morning he did not know of the group but that it was time for this sort of action.

“I simply am at sympathy with this group of people," Stone said. "They represent the frustrations that a lot of U of L fans have felt since this decision came down.

"... I still want this to go through channels. I want the university to wake up to this. I think the NCAA is a morally corrupt organization, morally bankrupt. They’re judging an organization as honorable as the University of Louisville."

Florio said the Louisville PAC group has legal standing despite not having entered a contract with the NCAA.

"If I am induced to do something — buy something, get a ticket — I don't have to have privity of contract with the NCAA," Florio said. "I have detrimentally relied on something the NCAA has said. It gives me standing because I took action based on what they said. ... By virtue of your statements, you have injured me and now I have standing."

Florio also said the suit's plaintiffs may also grow to include people who do have direct ties to the NCAA through Louisville. A press release sent Thursday night said the Louisville PAC represented a "consortium of players, fans and alumni."

See also: Cardinals fans flip the bird at the NCAA and raise their own 2013 championship banners

You may like: Kevin Ware: You can take the banner but you won't take this 'fat ass ring'

"When you look at this lawsuit, there's going to actually be some plaintiffs in the lawsuit who do have a type of privity of contract" through their relationships with the university, Florio said.

Florio said it had not yet been decided what would happen to any money won through the lawsuit.

"What we're really after is what we paid for, it's the restoration of the title," Florio said.

An email sent Thursday night to Louisville PAC leader Tony Cotton had not been returned as of Friday morning.