J.M., Jr. v. Montana High School Ass'n
| Decision Date | 05 May 1994 |
| Docket Number | No. 93-463,93-463 |
| Citation | 875 P.2d 1026,265 Mont. 230 |
| Parties | , 91 Ed. Law Rep. 1165, 7 A.D.D. 708 J.M., JR. individually and by his parents, and next friends, J.M. and S.M., Plaintiffs/Respondents, v. MONTANA HIGH SCHOOL ASSOCIATION and the Board of Control of the Montana High School Association, and Butte Central High School, Defendants/Appellants. |
| Court | Montana Supreme Court |
David J. Wing, Butte, for respondents.
This is an appeal from the Second Judicial District Court, Silver Bow County, granting a preliminary injunction against the defendants, the Montana High School Association (MHSA), the Board of Control of MHSA, and Butte Central High School (Butte Central), enjoining them from enforcing MHSA's maximum participation eligibility rules against the plaintiff. MHSA and the Board of Control appealed, asking this Court to dissolve the injunction. We reverse, remand and dissolve the injunction.
This appeal involves two issues which relate to whether the District Court erred in 1. Whether rights arising under IDEA afford protections to students who may be learning disabled but who do not have a written Individualized Education Program (IEP), and are not otherwise participating in a special education program prescribed under IDEA.
applying the statutory rights and remedies of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 20 U.S.C. § 1400 et. seq., (IDEA), to enjoin MHSA from enforcing its eligibility rules against the plaintiff, J.M., Jr. The two issues are as follows
2. Whether the principles enunciated in T.H. v. Montana High School Ass'n. (D.Mont., Sept. 24, 1992), CV-92-150-BLG-JFB, apply to students who have exhausted their allotted eligibility under MHSA's rules.
This case involves an eighteen year old Butte Central student who claims learning disabilities, and who ran afoul of MHSA's maximum participation eligibility requirements. Under those rules, he was ineligible to play football or to wrestle during his senior year of high school. MHSA is a non-profit association incorporated under the laws of Montana. Membership in MHSA is voluntary, and is comprised of public and private high schools in Montana, including Butte Central. MHSA has the exclusive authority and responsibility for supervising and controlling all phases of interscholastic programs among its member schools. MHSA prohibits member schools from allowing any student to participate in interscholastic athletics if that student is ineligible to participate under MHSA rules and bylaws, and it has the power to sanction and penalize member schools which allow ineligible students to participate.
The two MHSA rules at issue in this case are called "maximum participation rules," in that they delineate the maximum semesters or seasons of eligibility for student participants in interscholastic contests.
The first rule prohibits students from participating in any MHSA regulated activity for more than eight semesters. The "eight semester" rule provides:
No student shall be eligible to participate in an Association Contest who has been in attendance in any secondary school more than eight (8) semesters. An attendance of twenty (20) days during a semester shall constitute one semester's attendance under this section....
Montana High School Ass'n. Official Handbook (1993-1994), By-Laws, Article II, Section (9), p. 19.
The second rule, or "four season" rule, provides:
No student shall be eligible to participate in an Association Contest during more than four seasons in any one sport....
Montana High School Ass'n. Official Handbook (1993-1994), By-Laws, Article II, Section (11), p. 20.
Inasmuch as students gain physical and mental maturity each season that they participate in sports and thereby gain the advantage of size, strength, and speed over younger students, MHSA established these maximum participation rules to promote safety, interscholastic competition, the opportunity to compete, and to insure that students do not delay graduation for athletic purposes.
The student involved in this case, J.M., Jr., had participated in four seasons of football prior to the 1993 fall season. J.M., Jr.'s high school football career began in 1989, when he played freshman football at Helena High School. In late October of 1989, J.M., Jr. and his family moved to Missoula. Because of educational difficulties, J.M., Jr. finished the remainder of the 1989-90 school year in the eighth grade. In the summer of 1990, J.M., Jr. moved with his family to Butte. He enrolled as a freshman in Butte Central, a private school, and played football for Butte Central for the 1990, 1991, 1992, seasons, thereby playing four seasons of football. Because J.M., Jr. had already participated in four seasons of football, he was ineligible to play football in the fall of 1993 at the commencement of his senior year, by reason of the MHSA four seasons rule. J.M., Jr. also wrestled for Butte Central, competing during the spring semesters of 1991, 1992 and it appears, although not completely clear from the record, spring semester of 1993. Because of the eight semester rule, J.M., Jr. would have been ineligible to compete in spring semester wrestling during school year 1993-94.
In January 1993, in anticipation of J.M., Jr.'s potential ineligibility, his parents requested a formal ruling from MHSA regarding their son's eligibility to play football and to wrestle, for the 1993-94 school year. In February 1993, MHSA, through its executive director, Dan Freund, ruled that because the fall semester of 1993 would be J.M., Jr.'s fifth season of fall sports, and the spring semester would be his ninth semester of school, J.M., Jr. would be ineligible to participate in any interscholastic activities for the 1993-94 school year. J.M., Jr.'s parents appealed this decision to MHSA's Board of Control, the governing body responsible for the interpretation and enforcement of MHSA rules.
Subsequent to an eligibility hearing held in mid-April, 1993, the Board of Control denied J.M., Jr.'s request to waive the four season rule for the fall semester of the 1993-94 school year, but approved the request for a waiver of the eight semester rule for the spring semester. The Board of Control based its decision on the fact that J.M., Jr. had already competed in four seasons of fall sports, but had only competed in three seasons of spring sports.
The following chart illustrates J.M., Jr.'s participation in high school athletics and the expiration of his eligibility under MHSA's four season and eight semester rules.
Fall Spring
Semester/Season Semester/Seas-
on
--------------- --------------------
1989"1990 (9th/8th grade) X --
1990"1991 (9th grade) X X
1991"1992 (10th grade) X X
1992"1993 (11th grade) X X
-------------------------------------
Total Semesters/Seasons of 4 3 = 7
eligibility before 1993"1994 school year
J.M., Jr. was not found to be ineligible for any other reason, i.e., because of age limitations, or academic performance. He was denied eligibility solely because his eligibility had expired under the four season rule.
On September 3, 1993, J.M., Jr.'s parents filed a complaint in District Court alleging, primarily, that he had constitutional rights and statutory rights under IDEA which allowed him to participate in fall semester sports. On this same date, J.M., Jr.'s parents moved for, and were granted, a temporary restraining order, restraining MHSA and the Board of Control from enforcing its rules against J.M., Jr., thereby permitting him to participate in fifth season football during the pendency of the order.
The defendants moved to dissolve the temporary restraining order, and an evidentiary hearing was held on September 9, 1993. After considering the parties' testimony and other evidence, the District Court filed on September 20, 1993, its Amended Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law and Order dated September 10, 1993, which preliminarily enjoined MHSA from enforcing its four seasons rule against J.M., Jr., and from imposing sanctions against Butte Central, pending a further good faith, meaningful hearing by MHSA into the propriety of waiving the rule. The District Court also ordered MHSA to reconsider its action as it affects J.M., Jr., in wrestling, so as not to deny him permission to begin practice for wrestling during the fall semester. The complaint also raised other claims not at issue here.
The District Court based its order on the protections afforded by IDEA, and the holding set forth in T.H. v. Montana High School Ass'n. (D.Mont., Sept. 24, 1992), CV-92-150-BLG-JFB. Defendants appeal from the District Court's order and request that the preliminary injunction be dissolved.
Granting a preliminary injunction is within a trial court's discretion, and we will not interfere unless manifest abuse is shown. Frame v. Frame (1987), 227 Mont. 439, 444, 740 P.2d 655, 659. However, no discretion is involved when the court arrives at a conclusion of law, and we review the district court's conclusions of law to determine whether the district court's interpretation of the law is correct. Steer, Inc. v. Department of Revenue (1990), 245 Mont. 470, 474, 803 P.2d 601, 603. In the instant case, we conclude that the District Court's interpretation of the law was erroneous and that, accordingly, the preliminary...
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