Mississippi High School Activities Ass'n, Inc. v. Coleman By and on Behalf of Laymon

• Decision Date: 27 January 1994
• Docket Number: No. 91-CA-0486,91-CA-0486
• Citation: 631 So.2d 768
• Parties: 89 Ed. Law Rep. 692 MISSISSIPPI HIGH SCHOOL ACTIVITIES ASSOCIATION, INC. v. Mary COLEMAN, Next Friend, by and on Behalf of Her Son, Kiese LAYMON; and the Most Reverend William R. Houck, Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Jackson, Mississippi, for and on Behalf of St. Joseph High School.
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court

Page 768

631 So.2d 768

89 Ed. Law Rep. 692

MISSISSIPPI HIGH SCHOOL ACTIVITIES ASSOCIATION, INC. v. Mary COLEMAN, Next Friend, by and on Behalf of Her Son Kiese LAYMON; and the Most Reverend William R. Houck Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Jackson, Mississippi, for and on Behalf of St. Joseph High School.

No. 91-CA-0486.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

Jan. 27, 1994.

John H. Price, Jr., Price & Zirulnik, Jackson, for appellant.

Isaac K. Byrd, Jr., Rhonda C. Cooper, Byrd & Associates, Jackson, Stephen J. Carmody, Jackson, for appellees.

Before HAWKINS, C.J., PRATHER, P.J., and McRAE, J.

PRATHER, Presiding Justice, for the court:

I. INTRODUCTION

This appeal from a permanent injunction arose from the April 11, 1991, order of the Chancery Court of Hinds County, Mississippi, in favor of high-school student Kiese Laymon through his mother, Mary Coleman, and the Most Reverend William Houck, Bishop of the Diocese of Jackson, Mississippi, intervenor. The appellant, the Mississippi High School Athletic Association, Inc. ¹ , timely filed a notice of appeal.

II. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Kiese Laymon and his mother, Mary Coleman, moved from Jackson, Mississippi, to the state of Maryland, where Laymon attended a Catholic school for the 1989-90 school year and participated in interscholastic basketball. In August 1990, Laymon and Coleman returned to Mississippi and Laymon enrolled in St. Joseph High School, the school he had attended before his move to Maryland, which is located in the Jackson Municipal Separate School District. However, Coleman and Laymon established a residence in Brandon, where Coleman bought a house. The Coleman-/Laymon home is not located in the Jackson Municipal Separate School District.

Laymon began to practice with the St. Joseph basketball team, but was informed by St. Joseph officials that he was ineligible to participate in interscholastic sports during the 1990-91 school year by virtue of the Mississippi High School Athletic Association's anti-recruiting rule. This rule requires that a participant in interscholastic activities attend a school in the school district of which his parents or guardian are bona fide residents.

On November 6, 1990, Mary Coleman filed suit on behalf of her son against the Mississippi High School Activities Association, Inc. (the Association). Coleman alleged that, as a result of Laymon's being denied eligibility to play in a St. Joseph's High School basketball game on November 6, 1990, her son would suffer immediate and irreparable injury or loss. She alleged that the Association's eligibility rules regarding residence had no rational basis for parochial school students. The chancellor issued a temporary restraining order, ordering the Association to allow Laymon to play in that day's game "and other basketball games."

The Association denied having taken any action on Laymon's right to participate in games. The Association claimed no awareness of Laymon's interests until the Association received the TRO, which had been issued without notice. Further, the Association claimed Laymon's residence did indeed disqualify him from participating in St. Joseph's interscholastic activities.

Following an evidentiary hearing, the chancellor granted Coleman's petition for a preliminary injunction and ordered that Laymon be allowed to play 1990-91 varsity basketball for St. Joseph High School.

The Most Reverend William R. Houck, Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Jackson, moved to intervene based on the Diocese's interests in the extracurricular activities of its students. The court granted the motion.

After another hearing, the court issued its final memorandum opinion and order, granting declaratory relief and a permanent injunction against enforcement of the Association's anti-recruiting rule "as it applies to Kiese and students similarily [sic] situated." The chancellor further held: "The rule in its application in this instance injures the innocent ... [T]he rule is arbitrary, capricious and overbroad and does not make any exception for such cases as Kiese."

The Association appealed, raising the following issues:

A. Whether the trial court erred in granting the TRO;

B. Whether the trial court erred in granting the preliminary injunction;

C. Whether the trial court erred in sustaining objection to the Association's inquiry of Mary Coleman as to the amount of down payment made by her on the purchase price of her home in Brandon, Mississippi; and

D. Whether the trial court erred in granting the permanent injunction and declaratory relief.

III. JUSTICIABILITY OF MOOT QUESTIONS

At this stage of the game, whether the chancellor should have granted the TRO and the preliminary and permanent injunctions to allow Laymon to participate in interscholastic athletic competitions for the 1990-91 school year at St. Joseph High School is clearly a moot question as to Laymon. This Court has said it will not adjudicate moot issues. Jackson County School Board v. Osborn, 605 So.2d 731, 734-35 (1992) (citing Miss. Assoc. of Educators v. Trustees of Jackson Mun. Separate School District, 510 So.2d 123, 126 (1987)). However, the doctrine which prevents adjudication of moot cases provides an exception for those cases which are capable of repetition yet evading review. Strong v. Bostick, 420 So.2d 1356, 1359 (Miss.1982). In Strong, this Court first adopted this exception and noted that it is limited to situations where (1) the action complained of is too short in duration to be fully litigated before its expiration and "(2) [t]here [is] a reasonable expectation that the same complaining party [will] be subject to the same action again." Strong, 420 So.2d at 1359 (quoting Weinstein v. Bradford, 423 U.S. 147, 149, 96 S.Ct. 347, 349, 46 L.Ed.2d 350 (1975)).

Subsequent to Strong, this Court has set forth only the first prong, as though it were two separate prerequisites to be met before the exception may be applied, to wit: (1) the duration of the challenged action must have been short and (2) the time required to complete an appeal is lengthy. ² M.A.C. v. Harrison County Family Court, 566 So.2d 472, 474 (Miss.1990).

In Pascagoula School District v. Doe, 508 So.2d 1081, 1084 (Miss.1987), this Court simply found the case not moot, without a discussion of whether the same party would be subject to the same action again. In Doe, although the student had completed the school year, appeal of his expulsion was not moot because of the likelihood that the act complained of would be repeated. Doe also cites Strong for the "too short in duration to be fully litigated" prerequisites.

In C & D Investment Co. v. Gulf Transport Co., 526 So.2d 526, 528 (Miss.1988), this Court stated that, where relief other than an injunction has been requested, a case is moot so long as "a judgment on the merits, if rendered, would be of no practical benefit to the plaintiff or detriment to the defendant."

The Fifth Circuit has found that a one year athletic ineligibility rule satisfies the "too short in duration to be fully litigated" test. Walsh v. Louisiana High School Athletic Ass'n, 616 F.2d 152, 157 (5th Cir.1980), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 1124, 101 S.Ct. 939, 67 L.Ed.2d 109 (1981). This Court agrees. Therefore, following the test set forth in M.A.C., this Court may properly adjudicate the instant case. Pursuant to Doe, this Court finds the case sub judice not moot because of the likelihood that the challenged action will be repeated. As stated in Doe, " '[j]udicial review invariably takes more than nine months to complete.' " Doe, 508 So.2d at 1084 (quoting Hendrick Hudson Dist. Bd. of Education v. Rowley, 458 U.S. 176, 186 n. 9, 102 S.Ct. 3034, 3041 n. 9, 73 L.Ed.2d 690 (1982)). To paraphrase Doe: to hold this case moot would, in effect, prohibit the Association from enforcing its one year ineligibility rule, when the student is granted relief in the chancery court, because of the length of time required to appeal such a case. The matter could, conceivably, never be resolved if dismissed as moot each time. See Strong, 420 So.2d at 1358. Finally, pursuant to the C & D test, a judgment on the merits will be a detriment to the Association if this Court finds its one year eligibility rule unconstitutional.

As the instant case fulfills this Court's requirements for application of the "capable of repetition yet evading review" doctrine, let us now turn to the issue at hand. The chancellor granted the permanent injunction and declaratory relief based on her finding that the Association's anti-recruiting rule is unconstitutional. The Association questions on appeal the propriety of the relief granted by the chancellor and contends that the anti-recruiting rule is constitutional; Laymon and St. Joseph High School claim the chancellor was correct because the anti-recruiting rule is, indeed, unconstitutional. This Court will, therefore, first address the constitutionality of the rule.

IV. WHETHER THE ASSOCIATION'S ANTI-RECRUITING RULE IS

UNCONSTITUTIONAL

A. Is there State Action?

Without state action, there can be no valid claim of unconstitutionality. See Rendell-Baker v. Kohn, 457 U.S. 830, 837, 102 S.Ct. 2764, 2769, 73 L.Ed.2d 418 (1982). This Court has previously implied that the Association acts under state authority. Mississippi High School Activities Assoc. v. Farris, 501 So.2d 393, 396 (Miss.1987) (Court addressed due process claim against the Association). See also Laurenzo v. MHSAA, 662 F.2d 1117, 1119-20 (5th Cir.1981) (application of the Association's regulations is state interference with student participation in sports); Walsh v. Louisiana High School Activities Assoc., 616 F.2d 152, 156 (5th Cir.1980) (LHSAA's conduct constitutes state action for purposes of the 14th Amendment), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 1124, 101 S.Ct. 939, 67 L.Ed.2d 109 (1981).

The power to regulate athletic programs is conferred upon the local school boards by the Mississippi Legislature. Miss.Code Ann. Sec. 37-7-301(q) ...