Sanders v. Louisiana High School Athletic Ass'n

• Decision Date: 09 December 1970
• Docket Number: No. 3359,3359
• Citation: 242 So.2d 19
• Parties: Percy SANDERS, Jr., Plaintiff-Appellee, v. LOUISIANA HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION et al., Defendants-Appellants.
• Court: Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US

Page 19

242 So.2d 19

Percy SANDERS, Jr., Plaintiff-Appellee, v. LOUISIANA HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION et al Defendants-Appellants.

No. 3359.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

Dec. 9, 1970.

Rehearing Denied Dec. 16, 1970.

Talley, Anthony, Hughes & Knight by Charles M. Hughes, Bogalusa, for defendants-appellants.

Ralph Brewer, Baton Rouge, and Fruge & Foret by J. Burton, Foret, Ville Platte, for plaintiff-appellee.

En banc.

PER CURIAM.

This is an action instituted by Percy Sanders, Jr., individually and in behalf of his minor son, Rodney Sanders, against Louisiana High School Athletic Association, Thad H. Waters (Commissioner of Louisiana High School Athletic Association), Ville Platte High School, Academy of Immaculate Conception of Opelousas and Bunkie High School. Plaintiff's principal demands are for judgment: (1) Ordering defendants to declare Rodney Sanders eligible to participate in interscholastic athletics for Ville Platte High School for the school year 1970--71; (2) ordering defendants to declare Ville Platte High School the 1970--71 Class AA District Champions and eligible to participate in the playoffs; and (3) enjoining defendants from conducting the state Class AA high school football playoff with the Academy of Immaculate Conception, as district champion, and Bunkie High School as runner-up.

Incidental to these demands, a temporary restraining order was issued by the trial court restraining and prohibiting defendants 'from conducting a state Class AA high school football playoff involving the Academy of Immaculate Conception of Opelousas, as district champion, and Bunkie High School as runner-up.' A rule was issued directing defendants to show cause why a preliminary injunction should not be granted.

The suit was filed in the Thirteenth Judicial District Court, in Evangeline Parish. Three of the defendants, the Athletic Association, Waters, and Academy of Immaculate Conception, filed exceptions of improper venue, alleging that none of said defendants are domiciled in Evangeline Parish, that Ville Platte High School is not a joint or solidary obligor with the exceptors, and that Ville Platte High School has no standing, as such, to be sued. Simultaneously with the filing of these exceptions, Louisiana High School Althletic Association and T. H. Waters also filed an answer to plaintiff's petition.

Following a hearing, judgment was rendered by the trial court overruling the exceptions to the venue of the court. A hearing also was held on the rule for a preliminary injunction, and after that hearing judgment was rendered by the trial court in favor of plaintiff and against defendants, granting the preliminary injunction as prayed for, but decreeing 'that the preliminary injunction shall not restrain or enjoin the previously scheduled playoffs pending a determination by the appellate courts of the Louisiana High School Athletic Association's * * * devolutive appeal .'

The defendants have appealed.

EXCEPTIONS TO VENUE

The evidence shows that the Louisiana High School Athletic Association is a voluntary organization, and that its membership consists of more than 400 'high schools' in the state. In order for a high school to become a member it must sign the application for membership, agree to conform to the rules and regulations of the association, and pay a membership fee. The constitution of the Athletic Association provides that the principal of each high school acts for that school in matters pertaining to the athletic relations of his school, and that he is responsible to the association. The Ville Platte High School is a member of the Louisiana High School Athletic Association.

Defendant Waters is the Commissioner of the Athletic Association. His staff consists of one assistant and four secretaries. His offices are located in Hammond, Louisiana.

We think the Louisiana High School Athletic Association must be considered to be and treated as an unincorporated association, the membership of which consists of more than 400 'high schools' in the state, with its principal business establishment in Hammond, Louisiana.

Ordinarily a suit against a domestic unincorporated association must be brought in the parish where its principal business establishment is located. LSA-C.C.P. art. 42. Article 738 of the Code of Civil Procedure provides, however, that 'the members of an unincorporated association may be sued jointly on an obligation of the association and the association may be joined as a defendant in such an action.' And Article 73 of that code provides that 'an action against joint or solidary obligors may be brought in any parish of proper venue, under Article 42, as to any obligor who is made a defendant.'

Since Ville Platte High School is a member of the Athletic Association, and both are being sued jointly on an obligation of the association, it is apparent that under the provisions of LSA-C.C.P. art. 73 the district court sitting in Evangeline Parish is a court of proper venue.

The exceptors argue that Ville Platte High School does not have the capacity to sue or to be sued, but that any action against such a school can be taken only by or through the Evangeline Parish School Board. They cite LSA-R.S. 17:51 and La.Const. Art. 19, Sec. 26, as authority for the position they take. We find no merit to that argument. No objection has been raised by Ville Platte High School, although that party was represented by counsel, and participated in the hearing on the rule to show cause why a preliminary injunction should not issue. Also, as we have already noted, the constitution of the Louisiana High School Athletic Association specifically provides that the membership of that association shall consist of 'high schools,' represented by the principals of those schools. Insofar as this voluntary association is concerned, therefore, the school is treated as a legal entity in itself. The Ville Platte High School, represented by its principal, is a member of the Athletic Association, and since that school was made a party to this suit the parent association is subject to the venue of the court in Evangeline Parish.

It is true that defendant Waters does not reside in Evangeline Parish. He is sued in his capacity as Commissioner of the Louisiana High School Athletic Association, however, and since that association was properly before the trial court, we think the court also is one of proper venue as to Waters.

For these reasons we affirm the judgment of the trial court overruling the exceptions of venue filed by these defendants.

ON THE MERITS

The principal question presented on the merits is whether the trial court erred in interfering with the internal affairs of the Louisiana High School Athletic Association, by reversing a decision of the Executive Committee of that association relating to the eligibility of plaintiff's son, Rodney Sanders, to participate as a member of the Ville Platte High School football team during the fall of 1970. The decision of the Executive Committee was that Rodney was ineligible because he had not been 'enrolled' in the Ville Platte High School one year before he began participating in interscholastic athletics.

The evidence establishes that prior to the summer months of 1969, Rodney Sanders lived with his parents in Ascension Parish, Louisiana, and he attended public schools in that parish until that time. He did not participate in the athletic programs at any of those schools. During the summer of 1969 he spent a considerable amount of time visiting his grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Lee Israel, who lived in Evangeline Parish. While Rodney was visiting there, his parents decided that he and his younger brother, Roger, would be enrolled in the Ville Platte High School when school opened in the fall of 1969, and that both boys would attend school in that institution during the 1969--70 school year, rather than to return to the Ascension Parish schools.

Rodney's grandmother, Mrs. Israel, was a teacher in Ville Platte High School. An agreement was reached between her and Rodney's parents that the boy was to live with her, that he would be enrolled in the Ville Platte High School in the fall of 1969, and that he would attend school there that school year.

Shortly before the schools were scheduled to open in either of those parishes in the fall of 1969, a considerable amount of racial strife, disorders and violence occurred in many schools throughout the state, following a decision relating to 'freedom of choice' which was rendered by the United States Circuit Court of Appeal, Fifth Circuit, about that time. The disorders were of such a serious nature in Evangeline and Ascension Parishes that there was a question in the minds of many, and particularly in the minds of Rodney's parents, as to whether the Ville Platte High School or the East Ascension High School would be able to remain open during the 1969--70 school year.

In view of these disturbing conditions Rodney's parents became uncertain as to which school their two boys should attend. They preferred that Rodney enroll as an eleventh grade student in the Ville Platte High School, but since that school was not scheduled to open until September 2, 1969, they had him enroll in the East Ascension High School on August 27, 1969, that being the date on which students were required to register in that school. When school was scheduled to open in Ville Platte on September 2, 1969, Mrs. Israel registered Rodney and his brother as students in the Ville Platte High School on that date. The records of that school show that Rodney was duly enrolled as a student in the Ville Platte High School as of September 2, 1969.

During the evening of September 2, 1969, a meeting of the citizens was held in the gymnasium of the Ville Platte High School, and as a result of that meeting the school was closed. It remained closed until about the middle of September, and thereafter students began to drift back...