Cardinal Mooney High School v. Michigan High School Athletic Ass'n

• Decision Date: 18 March 1991
• Docket Number: Docket No. 87010
• Citation: 467 N.W.2d 21,437 Mich. 75
• Parties: , 66 Ed. Law Rep. 771 CARDINAL MOONEY HIGH SCHOOL, Patrick McClellan, D.O., Sandra McClellan and John McClellan, Individually, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. MICHIGAN HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: Michigan Supreme Court

Page 21

467 N.W.2d 21

437 Mich. 75, 66 Ed. Law Rep. 771

CARDINAL MOONEY HIGH SCHOOL, Patrick McClellan, D.O., Sandra

McClellan and John McClellan, Individually, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. MICHIGAN HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION, Defendant-Appellant.

Docket No. 87010.

Supreme Court of Michigan.

Argued Dec. 5, 1990.

Decided March 18, 1991.

Frederick B. Bellamy, Michael S. Cafferty, Bellamy & Gilchrist, P.C., Detroit, for plaintiffs-appellees.

Edmund J. Sikorski, Jr., Ann Arbor, for defendant-appellant.

Muraski & Sikorski, Anthony A. Muraski, Ann Arbor, Swanson, Midgley, Gangwere, Clarke & Kitchin, George H. Gangwere, Susan C. Langston, Kansas City, Mo., for National Federation of State High School Associations.

MICHAEL F. CAVANAGH, Chief Justice.

I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

We address in this case the validity of Regulation V, Sec. 3(D) ("rule 3[D]"), of the Michigan High School Athletic Association ("MHSAA"), which provides as follows:

"If a student is ineligible according to MHSAA rules but is permitted to participate in interscholastic competition contrary to such MHSAA rules but in accordance with the terms of a court restraining order or injunction against his/her school and/or the MHSAA and said injunction is subsequently voluntarily vacated, stayed, reversed or [it is] finally determined by the courts that injunctive relief is not or was not justified, in any one or more of the following actions shall be taken against such school in the interest of restitution and fairness to the competing schools:

"(1)--Require that individual or team records and performances achieved during participation by such ineligible student shall be vacated or stricken.

"(2)--Require that team victories shall be forfeited to opponent.

"(3)--Require that team or individual awards earned by such ineligible student be returned to the association."

This case arose when the MHSAA declared John McClellan, a senior at Cardinal Mooney High School during the 1987-88 school year, ineligible to participate in interscholastic athletics because he turned nineteen prior to September 1, 1987. McClellan had played interscholastic basketball as a nonstarter during the 1986-87 school year, and he desired to be on the team during 1987-88. In the fall of 1987, McClellan, who had previously been enrolled in a school for emotionally handicapped students, was evaluated by special education counselors, who determined that he would benefit from playing on the basketball team. McClellan, his parents, and Cardinal Mooney thereafter went to court to challenge the MHSAA's application of the age-eligibility rule to McClellan.

On November 18, 1987, the circuit court issued an ex parte temporary restraining order, extended by a second temporary restraining order entered on November 30, 1987, enjoining the MHSAA from enforcing the age-eligibility rule against McClellan and from penalizing McClellan or Cardinal Mooney for McClellan's participation. During the time the order was in effect, McClellan played in a number of basketball games, again as a nonstarter. It is undisputed that he did not contribute materially to any team victories. The circuit court ultimately ruled in favor of the MHSAA on the merits, finding that the age-eligibility rule was validly applied to McClellan. That ruling was not appealed and is no longer at issue in this case.

The circuit court provided in its final order that the MHSAA could not retrospectively penalize McClellan or Cardinal Mooney under rule 3(D) for McClellan's participation on the basketball team during the time the temporary restraining order was in effect. The Court of Appeals affirmed, holding that rule 3(D) is "arbitrary, unreasonable and unlawful," and that to enforce it against McClellan or Cardinal Mooney would "circumvent a valid court order," "punish the student and the school for exercising their right of access to the judicial system," and "render meaningless the circuit court's temporary restraining order." 179 Mich.App. 267, 274-275, 445 N.W.2d 483 (1989). The Court of Appeals also assessed $1,500 in damages under MCR 7.216(C), jointly against the MHSAA and its legal counsel for bringing a vexatious appeal. See 179 Mich.App. at 275, 445 N.W.2d 483. We granted leave to appeal. 435 Mich. 862 (1990).

II. DISCUSSION

At the outset, we reverse the assessment of damages by the Court of Appeals. The Court of Appeals evidently relied upon MCR 7.216(C)(1)(a), which refers to appeals taken "without any reasonable basis for belief that there was a meritorious issue to be determined on appeal...." We find, however, that the MHSAA had a "reasonable basis for belief that there was a meritorious issue to be determined on appeal." This Court has never ruled on the issue, and, indeed, remarkably little relevant case law from any jurisdiction appears to exist. The National Collegiate Athletic Association has a "restitution" bylaw essentially analogous to rule 3(D) which has never, to our knowledge, been successfully challenged in court. ¹ While there is one North Dakota case which might be read to support the Court of Appeals position, ² the closest federal case on point appears to assume the validity of the NCAA bylaw. ³ This is not, by any stretch of the imagination, an issue so one-sided that no reasonable lawyer could contest it in good faith. The MHSAA, despite its reverses in the Court of Appeals, was entitled to continue raising the issue in the hope that this Court would eventually grant leave to appeal, as we have now done.

We also reverse the judgment of the Court of Appeals on the merits. We note first that the Court of Appeals held that its review of rule 3(D) was "limited 'to whether [it was] reasonable and does not extend to a determination of [its] wisdom.' " 179 Mich.App. at 274, 445 N.W.2d 483 (quoting LaPorte v. Escanaba Area Public Schools, 51 Mich.App. 305, 308, 214 N.W.2d 840 [1974]. This is the standard appropriately applied to the MHSAA's rules as they relate to its own internal governance and to its authority to govern interscholastic athletics conducted under its auspices. We understand the challenge to rule 3(D), however, to be based on the argument that the rule conflicts with the authority of the courts to issue effective temporary restraining orders under MCR 3.310(B) and, more generally, with the right of access to the judicial system. Whether rule 3(D) is invalid on these grounds is purely a question of law subject to de novo review.

We answer the question in the negative because we find rule 3(D) to be a valid restitutive provision. It is reasonably designed to rectify the competitive inequities that would inevitably occur if schools were permitted without penalty to field ineligible athletes under the protection of a temporary restraining order, pending the outcome of an ultimately unsuccessful legal challenge to one or more eligibility rules. We find relevant to our decision the fact that rule 3(D) does not purport to authorize interference with any court order during the time it remains in effect, but only authorizes restitutive penalties when a temporary restraining order is ultimately dissolved and the challenged eligibility rule remains undisturbed in force. ⁴ We also find relevant the fact that the member schools of the MHSAA have voluntarily agreed to submit to the MHSAA's regulations, including rule 3(D), as a condition of their membership. Furthermore, compliance with MHSAA rules on the part of student athletes is an appropriate and justifiable condition of the privilege of participating in interscholastic athletics under the auspices of the MHSAA. ⁵

We recognize that the facts of this particular case are highly sympathetic...