Crandall v. North Dakota High School Activities Ass'n

• Decision Date: 26 January 1978
• Docket Number: No. 9412,9412
• Parties: Carl CRANDALL, by his next friend, Nona Crandall, Plaintiff and Appellee, v. NORTH DAKOTA HIGH SCHOOL ACTIVITIES ASSOCIATION and F. U. Smith, Executive Secretary, Defendants and Appellants. Civ.
• Court: North Dakota Supreme Court

Page 921

261 N.W.2d 921

Carl CRANDALL, by his next friend, Nona Crandall, Plaintiff and Appellee, v. NORTH DAKOTA HIGH SCHOOL ACTIVITIES ASSOCIATION and F. U.

Smith, Executive Secretary, Defendants and Appellants.

Civ. No. 9412.

Supreme Court of North Dakota.

Jan. 26, 1978.

Zuger & Bucklin, Bismarck, for defendants and appellants; argued by Leonard H. Bucklin, Bismarck.

McClintock, Butz & Kraft, Rugby, for plaintiff and appellee; argued by Carlan J. Kraft, Rugby.

SAND, Justice.

The North Dakota High School Activities Association (hereinafter Association) appealed from an order, also serving as a memorandum of decision, ¹ filed in McHenry County district court on 1 September 1977, enjoining it from holding Drake High School student Carl Crandall ineligible to participate in interscholastic activities or from imposing any sanctions upon Crandall or the school by reason of his participation.

The board of directors of the Association, on 22 August 1977, ruled that Carl Crandall would be ineligible for interscholastic activities at the Drake High School for 18 weeks unless his parents moved into the Drake High School district.

Immediately thereafter, Nona Crandall, the mother of Carl Crandall, commenced this action with a summons and complaint seeking a declaratory judgment under Chapter 32-23, North Dakota Century Code, and a judgment restraining and enjoining the Association from declaring Carl ineligible for interscholastic activities (football), and from penalizing Drake High School. At the same time she filed an affidavit and requested the court to issue an order restraining and enjoining the Association from declaring Carl ineligible for interscholastic activities at Drake High School during the pendency of the action.

The court issued its order to show cause and subsequently held a hearing on 30 August 1977, at which time oral testimony was received. After the hearing, the court issued its memorandum opinion which also served as an order. Counsel for the respective parties later stipulated that "it is their understanding and agreement that the Court's order dated September 1, 1977 (memorandum opinion order), is not preliminary in nature and that no further action needs to be taken by any party to make the order final." The court also issued an order confirming the memorandum opinion order "as the final order in this case."

The stipulation and confirmation by the court that the order was final appears an obvious effort to satisfy Rule 54(b), North Dakota Rules of Civil Procedure. Under these circumstances, the memorandum opinion order is appealable.

Carl attended the eighth and ninth grades at Drake High School, where he lettered in football. During the 1976-77 school year he was a sophomore at Mott High School. His father, a Methodist minister, was then transferred from Mott to Cleveland, at which point Carl elected to attend Drake High School during the 1977-78 school year. His parents, at the time, were residents of Cleveland.

At the hearing on the order to show cause, Carl testified that he decided to attend Drake High School primarily because he believed its scholastic program to be superior to Cleveland's. The following exchange took place on direct examination of Carl.

"Q So you feel the entire scholastic program is better at Drake?

"A Yes.

"Q And is it correct that there was no football program at Cleveland?

"A Yes.

"Q And the possibility of playing football at Drake must have entered into your discussions and your decisions?

"A Yes.

"Q Did you realize that you may be declared ineligible when you started the process of going to Drake?

"A Yes.

"Q And even knowing that that might happen and, Carl, even if you should not be allowed to play football, will you attend Drake High School this year?

"A Yes, I will.

"Q Do you feel that you have a right to play high school football this year, Carl?

"MR. LENABURG: Whether he has a right, that is a matter for the Court to determine.

"THE COURT: Overruled.

"Q Do you feel you have a right to play football this year, Carl?

"A Yes, I do, very much.

"Q And this possibility or the right to play football you feel is one of the several things that prompted you to transfer to Drake High School?

"A Yes, it was."

The trial court held that the rule upon which the Association found Carl ineligible was unreasonable and in violation of his personal rights. The trial court's memorandum opinion stated:

". . . it is the opinion of this Court that the action of the Association Board in finding Carl ineligible to participate in interscholastic activities at the Drake High School for a period of eighteen weeks is not only contrary to the rules of the Association which made the determination, but is also arbitrary and unreasonable, and in violation of the personal rights of a student enrolled in an accredited high school of this state."

The memorandum of decision was converted into a final order restraining and enjoining the Association, as stated earlier. The appeal followed.

The Association, the appellant, is an unincorporated association of North Dakota high schools which administers a program of interscholastic activities, including athletic competition among its member schools. Its purpose is stated in Article II of its Constitution:

"The purpose of this Association is to contribute to the education of high school boys and girls of North Dakota by:

a. Administering a program of interscholastic activities, clinics, contests and festivals among its member schools;

b. Elevating the standards of good sportsmanship and encouraging growth in good citizenship, not only of high school students, but also of all others who come in contact with school activities;

c. Protecting member schools, students, and personnel from exploitation by special interest groups;

d. Encouraging pride in scholastic achievement as a fundamental basis for a well-balanced activities program;

e. Supplementing the dramatic, literary, music and physical education programs of the schools and giving due emphasis to those tendencies which promise best to promote the mental and physical health and social well-being of all students."

Article XIII of the Association's By-Laws contains the "Rules of Eligibility" for competitors in interscholastic contests. Section X of Article XIII, which is significant to the issues involved here, provides in part:

"He shall have been in attendance at the school which he represents for eighteen school weeks upon transferring from another school unless his parents have become residents of the school district to which he transferred or unless the school from which he transferred does not offer work of the corresponding year in which he is ranked . . ."

The Association, on appeal, contends it is a voluntary association and that absent allegations of fraud, mistake, bad faith, or collusion, the courts should not interfere in its internal affairs, which include its eligibility rules. Alternatively, the Association contends that its eligibility rules satisfy the requirement of reasonableness.

Although the Association considers and refers to itself as a voluntary association, it was brought out during oral argument, and it is common knowledge, that its program, by various means, is primarily supported by and through the use of public funds. Some of the items which are paid for from public funds, to name a few, include salaries of coaches, costs of uniforms, costs of equipment, costs of transportation, the cost for maintaining a field or area to practice, and the payment of membership dues, which is substantial amount.

The Legislature has endorsed the program of the Association by the enactment of § 15-29-08(20), NDCC, which provides as follows:

"The powers and duties of the school board of a public school district shall be as follows:

20. Recognizing the necessity for an organization of schools to administer a program of interscholastic activities, any public school, so classified by the state department of public instruction, is authorized to become a member of the North Dakota high school activities association, presently located in the city of Valley City, North Dakota, upon written application of its school board and said school board shall pay the cost of such membership out of the funds of such school in the same manner as any valid school expense is paid."

In our view, the Association has been recognized by the Legislature as performing a valid, needed function in administering interscholastic activities and as such is acting in a manner comparable to a quasi-governmental body. We further believe rules are necessary to accomplish and fulfill the purposes and objectives of the Association.

Although Drake High School voluntarily agreed to be a member of the Association and pay dues as permitted by law and to abide by the rules of the Association, we believe that the trial court had jurisdiction to review the regulations in question because the Association is...