Ind. High School Athletic Ass'n v. Vasario

• Decision Date: 07 March 2000
• Docket Number: No. 45A03-9901-CV-16.,45A03-9901-CV-16.
• Citation: 726 N.E.2d 325
• Parties: INDIANA HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION, Appellant-Defendant, v. Gabriele VASARIO, Appellee-Plaintiff.
• Court: Indiana Appellate Court

726 N.E.2d 325

INDIANA HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION, Appellant-Defendant, v. Gabriele VASARIO, Appellee-Plaintiff.

No. 45A03-9901-CV-16.

Court of Appeals of Indiana.

March 7, 2000.

Transfer Denied June 16, 2000.

Robert M. Baker, III, Johnson, Smith, Pence, Wright & Heath, LLP, Indianapolis, Indiana, Attorney for Appellant.

Michael L. Muenich, Highland, Indiana, Attorney for Appellee.

OPINION

SULLIVAN, Judge

Appellant, Indiana High School Athletic Association (IHSAA), appeals the trial court's refusal to enforce IHSAA's Rule 19, otherwise known as the "Transfer Rule," against Gabriele Vasario (Vasario), a high school student who attended Lake Central High School as a foreign exchange student.

We reverse.

Appellant presents the following issues for our review which we restate as follows:

(1) Whether the trial court erred in determining that the IHSAA violated Indiana common law by denying Vasario full athletic eligibility;

(2) Whether the trial court erred when it held that the IHSAA's Transfer Rule violated Article 1, Section 23 of the Indiana Constitution; and

(3) Whether the trial court erred in denying the IHSAA attorney's fees and expenses pursuant to Ind. Trial Rule 65(C).

The facts reveal that in the spring of 1994, Vasario, a native of Italy, applied to a foreign exchange program called Academic-Year-in-America which was sponsored by the American Institute for Foreign Study Foundation (AIFS Foundation). Vasario was accepted into the program for the 1994-95 academic year and was subsequently assigned to Lake Central High School in Lake County, Indiana. In the summer of 1994, Vasario moved to Crown Point, Indiana, to live with his host family.

Vasario is an accomplished swimmer, and was under the belief that he could competitively swim for Lake Central's varsity swimming team. There was no evidence, however, that Vasario came to Lake Central for athletic reasons. Lake Central is a member of the IHSAA, which is a voluntary association governing interscholastic athletic competition. For each school year, the IHSAA publishes a manual containing its Articles of Incorporation, By-Laws and Rules. This manual includes specific provisions governing the eligibility of athletes for participation in high school sports. Rule 19-6.1, one provision of the Transfer Rule, provides that a student who transfers schools without a change in residence by his or her parents is ineligible for interscholastic athletic competitions unless one or more of several enumerated exceptions is shown to exist. The Transfer Rule serves to discourage students who transfer to schools for athletic reasons and individuals who recruit students to a particular school to build athletic superiority.

One exception to the Transfer Rule is Rule 19-6.1(m), which provides that a foreign exchange student can have full eligibility if certain criteria are met. These criteria are listed in Rule 19-7 and include the requirement that the foreign exchange student is attending school under a foreign exchange program which is approved by both the IHSAA and the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP). The only requirement which the NASSP demands of the foreign exchange program is that it be included in an advisory list¹ published by the Counsel on Standards for International Educational Travel (CSIET). CSIET has nine published standards, one of which requires that a program have "direct, hands-on" control over the placement and supervision of its students. First Record at 314, Plaintiff's Exhibit 5 at 5. (Emphasis in original).² If a student attends a school under a program not so approved, the student may be granted limited eligibility, which amounts to participating at the junior varsity or freshman level of competition.

When Vasario applied to AIFS Foundation to become a foreign exchange student in the spring of 1994, the program met the criteria set out in Rule 19-7. Then, on May 3, 1994, CSIET wrote a letter to AIFS Foundation advising that the AIFS Foundation program would not be listed in the advisory publication. CSIET's disapproval resulted from AIFS Foundation assigning responsibility to another company, AIFS, Inc. Specifically, AIFS Foundation delegated the placement and supervision of students to AIFS, Inc., thus not meeting the requirement of "direct, hands on" control. First Record at 330, Plaintiff's Exhibit 6 at 2. AIFS Foundation appealed this ruling, but relief was apparently denied in the summer of 1994.

Vasario did not have any knowledge of AIFS Foundation being dropped from the advisory list before traveling to the United States, and it was not until late October when Vasario discovered that he was attending Lake Central under a program not approved for purposes of competing in interscholastic athletic events.

In November 1994, Vasario petitioned the IHSAA for full eligibility, but the IHSAA granted him limited eligibility, enabling him to compete only at the junior varsity level. Upon learning that AIFS Foundation was not an approved program, Vasario attempted, with the help of Lake Central's athletic director and swimming coach, to gain admission into an approved foreign exchange program. When these efforts did not prove successful, on February 9, 1995, Vasario asked the IHSAA to grant him a "hardship exception." First Record at 330, Plaintiff's Exhibit 6 at 3. The hardship exception of the Transfer Rule, found in Rule 17-8, allows the IHSAA to exercise its discretion and grant a student eligibility when none of the stated exceptions to the Transfer Rule apply and when strict enforcement of the rule would not serve to accomplish the goals of the rule. On February 10, 1995, Vasario's request for a hardship exception was denied.

On February 15, 1995, Vasario then filed for a temporary restraining order with the Lake County Superior Court and asked the court for declaratory and injunctive relief with respect to the IHSAA's ruling of ineligibility for the varsity level of competition. This complaint was filed, at least in part, to allow him to participate in the Sectional meet as part of the IHSAA state tournament. However, Vasario did not swim because he did not receive final word that he would be permitted to swim from Lake Central school officials until the Friday evening before the Saturday morning meet. Vasario did not feel he could take necessary measures, both physically and mentally, at that late time to prepare himself for the competition.

Vasario also challenged the substantive issue of eligibility in the suit. The trial court granted the restraining order, and dismissed the eligibility suit without prejudice after Vasario filed a motion for a voluntary dismissal. The IHSAA appealed the trial court's dismissal, asserting that the court did not have jurisdiction because it had granted the IHSAA's motion for change of venue from the judge before the suit was dismissed. The IHSAA wanted to litigate the matter so that if it was successful, it could claim attorney's fees as a result of wrongful enjoinder. Upon appeal, in an unpublished memorandum decision, this court remanded the case "to the trial court, for proceedings before the appropriate trial judge, to determine `whether injunctive relief was warranted under the facts of the case.'" IHSAA v. Vasario (1995) Ind. App., 659 N.E.2d 266 (quoting National Sanitary Supply Co. v. Wright (1994) Ind.App., 644 N.E.2d 903, 906, trans. denied).

Upon remand, on March 19, 1996, the IHSAA renewed a motion to transfer to a county of preferred venue, Marion County. On February 24, 1997, the trial court denied this motion. The IHSAA appealed the denial to this court, and on October 8, 1997, this court dismissed the appeal as moot.

Also, Vasario filed suit in federal court, claiming that the IHSAA violated the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article 1, Section 23 of the Indiana Constitution in its ruling denying Vasario full athletic eligibility. See Vasario v. IHSAA & American Instit. for Foreign Study Found. (March 12, 1997) N.D.Ind., No.2:95CV-105-JM. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the IHSAA on both the federal and state constitutional claims and entered final judgment in favor of the IHSAA.

On December 8, 1997, a trial on the merits and on the IHSAA's claim for fees as a result of wrongful enjoinder was finally conducted. The IHSAA requested specific findings of fact and conclusions of law pursuant to Ind. Trial Rule 52. After the parties submitted proposed findings to the trial court, the trial court issued its findings on July 2, 1998.

The trial court determined that the IHSAA's requirement that foreign exchange programs be recognized by an advisory list bears no relationship to the purpose of the Transfer Rule which is to prevent recruitment and transferring for athletic reasons. The trial court specifically found that denying Vasario eligibility had "no rational connection to further [the] IHSAA's interest in minimizing recruiting and proselytizing," especially when there was no evidence that Vasario had enrolled at Lake Central for athletic reasons. Third Record at 348. The court next found that the Transfer Rule "as it applies to Vasario, is arbitrary and capricious...." Third Record at 348. The court reasoned that the circumstances of Vasario's case justified granting a hardship exception, which the IHSAA failed to issue. The court finally concluded that the injunction awarded to Vasario was warranted under the facts of the case and denied the IHSAA's claim for attorney fees and expenses.

Our standard of review for findings of fact and conclusions of law issued pursuant to T.R. 52 is one of deference. Town & Country Ford, Inc. v. Busch (1999) Ind.App., 709 N.E.2d 1030, 1032. We will not set aside a judgment unless it is clearly erroneous. Id. We will review the evidence and all reasonable inferences therefrom in a light most favorable to the judgment

The question of which standard of...