Indiana High School Athletic Ass'n., Inc. v. Reyes, 79S02-9605-CV-361

• Citation: 694 N.E.2d 249
• Decision Date: 19 December 1997
• Docket Number: No. 79S02-9605-CV-361,79S02-9605-CV-361
• Parties: 125 Ed. Law Rep. 848 INDIANA HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION, INC. and Robert B. Gardner, in his capacity as Commissioner of the Indiana High School Athletic Association, Inc., Appellants (Defendants below), v. Freddy REYES, Lafayette Jefferson High School and Dennis C. Blind, in his capacity as Principal of Lafayette Jefferson High School, Appellees (Plaintiffs below).
• Court: Supreme Court of Indiana

Page 249

694 N.E.2d 249

125 Ed. Law Rep. 848

INDIANA HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION, INC. and Robert B Gardner, in his capacity as Commissioner of the Indiana High School Athletic Association, Inc., Appellants (Defendants below), v. Freddy REYES, Lafayette Jefferson High School and Dennis C Blind, in his capacity as Principal of Lafayette Jefferson High School, Appellees (Plaintiffs below).

No. 79S02-9605-CV-361.

Supreme Court of Indiana.

Dec. 19, 1997.

Robert M. Baker, III, Johnson Smith Pence Densborn Wright & Heath, Indianapolis, for Appellants.

E. Kent Moore, Laszynski & Moore, Lafayette, for Appellees.

ON PETITION TO TRANSFER

SULLIVAN, Justice.

This opinion is issued together with Indiana High School Athletic Ass'n v. Carlberg, 694 N.E.2d 222 (Ind.1997). Carlberg addresses at length the approach Indiana courts take to resolving disputes involving the rules and enforcement actions of the Indiana High School Athletic Association ("IHSAA"). Here we write primarily to resolve a conflict within the Court of Appeals concerning the enforceability of the IHSAA's Restitution Rule.

Background

We will briefly explain the background of this case; for a more complete discussion of the facts, see the Court of Appeals opinion in Indiana High School Athletic Ass'n v. Reyes, 659 N.E.2d 158 (Ind.Ct.App.1995).

Poor academic performance during the 1990-91 school year forced Freddy Reyes to repeat the ninth grade in 1991-92 in a Puerto Rican school. During the spring and summer of both 1991 and 1992, Reyes participated on an all star baseball team. In the summer of 1992, Reyes traveled with this baseball team to Lafayette, Indiana, to participate in the Colt League World Series. In 1992, Freddy Reyes moved in with a host family in Lafayette and enrolled as a sophomore at Lafayette Jefferson High School. Reyes was a member of the baseball team during the springs of 1993 and 1994, his sophomore and junior years, and earned all state honors.

At the beginning of the 1994-95 school year, the IHSAA ¹ learned that Reyes had first enrolled in ninth grade in the fall of 1990. The IHSAA notified Lafayette Jefferson that Reyes was not eligible to participate in interscholastic athletics as a senior during the 1994-95 school year due to the IHSAA's Eight Semester Rule, Rule 12-3 of the IHSAA General Eligibility Rules. The version of the Eight Semester Rule applicable to Reyes's case provided that after enrollment in the ninth grade, student athletes have a maximum of four spring semesters and four fall semesters of athletic eligibility. Reyes appealed to the IHSAA to grant him an extra year of eligibility under the IHSAA "hardship rule." ² The IHSAA Executive Committee denied Reyes's request. See Reyes, 659 N.E.2d at 161-62 (detailing the IHSAA Executive Committee's findings of fact and conclusions of law).

Reyes filed a verified complaint for injunctive relief on the grounds that the IHSAA Executive Committee's decision was arbitrary and capricious and in violation of his right to equal privileges and immunities under Article 1, Section 23, of the Indiana Constitution. The Tippecanoe Superior Court issued a temporary restraining order preventing the IHSAA and Lafayette Jefferson from enforcing the Eight Semester Rule in Reyes's case. The Tippecanoe Superior Court subsequently reversed the findings of the IHSAA Executive Committee, found in favor of Reyes, and issued a permanent injunction against the IHSAA and Lafayette Jefferson. Pertinent to this appeal, the trial court also prohibited the IHSAA from sanctioning Lafayette Jefferson for the school's compliance with the court order.

The IHSAA initiated an appeal and filed a Petition to Stay Judgment Pending Appeal with the trial court. The trial court denied the Petition to Stay. The Court of Appeals reversed and held that (i) the IHSAA's determination to deny Reyes's application for an exception under the hardship rule was not arbitrary and capricious; (ii) the IHSAA's decision to deny Reyes's request for another year of eligibility was state action subject to review under Article 1, Section 23, of the Indiana Constitution; (iii) the Eight Semester Rule and the hardship rule did not violate the right to equal privileges and immunities under Article 1, Section 23, of the Indiana Constitution; and (iv) the IHSAA Restitution Rule is valid.

In the Petition to Transfer, Lafayette Jefferson High School and Dennis C. Blind, in his capacity as principal (together referred to in this opinion as "Lafayette Jeff"), do not challenge the decision of the Court of Appeals as to Parts I, II, or III. We therefore now summarily affirm, expressly adopt, and incorporate by reference Parts I, II, and III of the opinion of the Court of Appeals. Ind.Appellate Rule 11(B)(3). However, Lafayette Jeff in its Petition to Transfer asks this Court to resolve the apparent conflict between two Court of Appeals decisions addressing the validity of the IHSAA's Restitution Rule. Cf. Reyes, 659 N.E.2d 158 (upholding the Restitution Rule) with Ind. High Sch. Athletic Ass'n v. Avant, 650 N.E.2d 1164 (Ind.Ct.App.1995) (holding the Restitution Rule invalid), trans. denied. In addition, Lafayette Jeff asks this Court to vacate the Court of Appeals opinion and reinstate the trial court's prohibition against the IHSAA enforcing its Restitution Rule against Lafayette Jeff.

Discussion

Lafayette Jeff contends that the Court of Appeals erred in determining that the Restitution Rule of the IHSAA General Eligibility Rules is valid and enforceable as to it. Failing to articulate specific legal grounds for determining the Restitution Rule to be unenforceable Lafayette Jeff merely asks this Court to adopt the position of the Court of Appeals in Avant, 650 N.E.2d 1164, or in the alternative, state that the Restitution Rule cannot be used to require forfeiture when the school itself does not challenge the IHSAA rule. We reject these arguments and affirm the holding of the Court of Appeals as to the validity of the IHSAA Restitution Rule. We write in order to (i) disapprove Avant to the extent that it holds the Restitution Rule to be invalid; (ii) review the Restitution Rule under the appropriate standard; (iii) address Lafayette Jeff's argument that the Restitution Rule should not apply to the school in this particular case where the school was a defendant in the original action challenging enforcement of the eligibility rule; and (iv) address the general policy concerns raised by this case.

I

The Restitution Rule of the IHSAA General Eligibility Rules provides that the IHSAA may sanction member schools by requiring them to forfeit victories, return trophies and awards, and return certain funding in the event an ineligible student athlete participates in violation of the IHSAA Eligibility Rules, but in accordance with an injunction or restraining order which is later vacated, stayed, reversed or finally determined to have been unjustified. ³ A school and student are subject to the Restitution Rule when a student athlete participates in interscholastic competition where that student athlete is declared ineligible by the IHSAA but participates in accordance with a court's restraining order or injunction that is later vacated or overturned. In the present case, Reyes's participation as a member of the Lafayette Jeff baseball team for the 1994-95 baseball season made Lafayette Jeff subject to the provisions of the Restitution Rule.

Nothing in the trial judge's conclusions of law speaks to the validity of the IHSAA Restitution Rule. Only in the Judgment does the trial judge allude to the Restitution Rule: "Having enjoined both the IHSAA and Lafayette Jefferson High School, it is apparent to the Court that no IHSAA sanctions should apply against Lafayette Jefferson High School for complying with this Court's Order." (R. at 27.) Assuming that this judgment in fact was intended to enjoin the IHSAA from enforcing its Restitution Rule, the trial judge gave no legal basis for such action. ⁴

In the Court of Appeals, Lafayette Jeff argued that it would be manifestly unreasonable to allow the IHSAA to enforce its Restitution Rule. Without stating a particular standard under which the Restitution Rule is unenforceable, Lafayette Jeff contended that the issue of the validity of the IHSAA Restitution Rule previously had been disposed of in Avant. We therefore assume that Lafayette Jeff adopts the reasoning of Avant as a basis for its argument. In Avant, the appellee argued that the Restitution Rule is against the public policy of this state by punishing schools and students for complying with the court order. Avant, 650 N.E.2d at 1171. The Avant court found this argument persuasive and wrote, "It would be illogical and manifestly unreasonable to exact penalties upon individuals and schools as punishment or retribution for their actions in compliance with a court order." Id. The Avant court analogized the situation of the application of the Restitution Rule to that situation in which a court finds a statute to be unconstitutional:

'The theory that a law held unconstitutional is no law at all and void ab initio for all purposes, including retroactive invalidity, runs counter to the hard facts of life. The actual existence of a statute prior to a determination of invalidity is an operative fact. Because of such de facto existence and reliance upon its validity, it has practical consequences which cannot be justly ignored. The past cannot always be erased by a simple judicial decree.' [United REMC v. Indiana Michigan Power Company, 648 N.E.2d 1194 (Ind.Ct.App.1995) ] citing Martin v. Ben Davis Conservancy District (1958), 238 Ind. 502, 510, 153 N.E.2d 125. ⁵

Avant, 650 N.E.2d at 1171. The Court of Appeals in Avant concluded that "[t]he same rationale applies and renders the IHSAA's restitution rule manifestly unreasonable." Id. Thus the Avant court points to REMC and Martin as support for the proposition that an order issued...