Williams v. Rio Rancho Public Schools, No. 28,042.

• Docket Nº: No. 28,042.
• Citation: 2008 NMCA 150, 195 P.3d 879
• Case Date: September 11, 2008
• Court: Court of Appeals of New Mexico

195 P.3d 879 2008 NMCA 150 Carol WILLIAMS and Marcus Williams, Petitioners-Appellees,
v.
RIO RANCHO PUBLIC SCHOOLS, Superintendent Dr. Sue Cleveland, and Rio Rancho High School Principal Richard Vonancken, Respondents-Appellants. No. 28,042. Court of Appeals of New Mexico. September 11, 2008.

[195 P.3d 880]

Carter Law Firm, P.C., Donna Trujillo Dodd, Albuquerque, NM, for Appellees.

Scheuer, Yost & Patterson, P.C., Charlotte H. Hetherington, Kristin L. Davidson, Santa Fe, NM, for Appellants.

OPINION

PICKARD, Judge.

{1} Rio Rancho Public Schools, Rio Rancho Superintendent Dr. Sue Cleveland, and Rio Rancho High School Principal Richard Vonancken (collectively "the School") have petitioned this Court to issue a writ of error directing the district court to (1) dissolve an injunction it orally issued on May 12, 2006, ordering the School to allow Marcus Williams (Williams), a student at Rio Rancho High School, to participate in extracurricular activities and (2) dismiss Williams' complaint

195 P.3d 881

for lack of jurisdiction. In doing so, the School asks us to rule on the question of whether students have a legal right, cognizable in state district court, to participate in extracurricular activities. Because our collateral order doctrine does not contemplate the granting of a writ of error under the circumstances of this case, we deny the writ and decline to rule on the School's question.

BACKGROUND

{2} During the spring semester of 2006, Williams was a member of the boys' track and field team at Rio Rancho High School (RRHS) in Rio Rancho, New Mexico. On April 16, 2006, the Rio Rancho Department of Public Safety (DPS) filed an incident report against Williams for aggravated assault against his ex-girlfriend. As a result of the incident report, Williams was suspended from participation in school athletics pursuant to the following language of the RRHS Parent/Athlete Manual relating to participation in extracurricular activities: "When an incident occurs that is determined by RRHS Security or DPS to be severe enough to be forwarded to either Juvenile Authorities or DPS for review and/or charges, the student athlete will be suspended immediately."

{3} On May 5, 2006, Williams filed an application for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction, alleging violations of school policy and constitutional due process. The same day, the district court entered an ex parte temporary restraining order against the School instructing it to reinstate Williams' eligibility in school athletics immediately and allow Williams to participate in athletics "until adjudication is made on any alleged pending criminal charges."

{4} A hearing on Williams' application for injunction was held on May 12, 2006. The School argued that federal case law holds that students have no federal constitutional right to participate in extracurricular activities, that no state constitutional right exists to support the application, and that participation is subject to the regulations set forth in the New Mexico Athletic Association (NMAA) Handbook. It argued that the school district had the sole authority to suspend a student from participating in athletics based upon allegations contained in the incident report and after having followed the due process procedures outlined in the RRHS Parent/Athlete Manual. Finally, it argued that because no legal right to participate in extracurricular activities exists, there could be no legal harm to Williams if he were suspended from such activities, and thus he could not meet the burden for supporting a preliminary injunction. At the conclusion of the hearing, the district court orally ruled that it was granting the preliminary injunction. For reasons not fully explained in the parties' briefs, no written order was entered, and no direct appeal or other attempt at appellate review was pursued by the School at that time.

{5} Almost a year later, on March 21, 2007, Williams entered into a consent decree in his juvenile case. On March 28, 2007, the School filed a motion with the district court to dissolve the preliminary injunction and dismiss Williams' application on the ground that the condition set forth in the district court's order that he be allowed to participate in extracurricular activities "until adjudication is made on any alleged pending criminal charges" had been met. The School also renewed its argument that the district court lacked jurisdiction to grant an injunction in the first place because Williams had no constitutional right to participate in extracurricular athletics.

{6} A hearing on the motion was held on August 15, 2007. The district court found that the consent decree was not an adjudication as contemplated by the language of the injunction, denied the School's motion, and ruled that the injunction would remain in place until Williams "violate[d] his probation or he fulfill[ed] the duration of the probation and his criminal case [was] dismissed." In an order entered September 26, 2007, the district court also declined to rule on the question of its jurisdiction to impose the injunction or to certify the issue for interlocutory appeal. Rather than appeal the order directly, the School filed a petition for writ of error with this Court on October 26, 2007. Without granting the petition, we assigned the case to the general calendar and directed

195 P.3d 882

the parties to brief the issue of this Court's jurisdiction.

DISCUSSION

The Collateral Order Doctrine

{7} A writ of error is "the procedural device for invoking the collateral order doctrine." Carrillo v. Rostro, 114 N.M. 607, 617, 845 P.2d 130, 140 (1992). "The collateral order doctrine is a narrow exception [to the final order requirement], whose reach is limited to trial court orders affecting rights that will be irretrievably lost in the absence of an immediate appeal." Id. at 613, 845 P.2d at 136 (internal quotation marks and citations omitted). It is generally a disfavored doctrine, and "many courts have severely limited application of the doctrine to avert piecemeal appeals becom[ing] the order of the day." ...