By Michael S. Carroll
Parents of a high school football player in Alabama have brought a $12-million-dollar lawsuit against the Mobile Board of Education and called for the school to fire all coaches involved with the team and forfeit all wins from 2018. The suit also names Mobile County Superintendent Martha Peek, Davidson Principal Lewis Copeland, and football coach Fred Riley.
Background
The lawsuit arose in response to an alleged hazing beating of a freshman football player in the team locker room in April 2018. On the day in question, 14-year-old freshman quarterback Rodney Kim Jr. was on the way to the team locker room following practice when he paused, fearful of the older players waiting. The previous day, another younger player had been attacked by the older players in the locker room, being struck repeatedly with shoulder pads and helmets, while being called “Fruit Fruit,” allegedly a common term for a younger player on the team that was to be hazed by older players. This particular day, an older player was lurking outside the locker room and remarked to Kim Jr., “Fruit Fruit, we are going to get you.” Kim Jr. decided to wait outside of the locker room, but an older player snuck up behind him and picked him up. The player subsequently carried him into the locker room and threw him onto the floor. Approximately 20 older players then all began hitting and kicking Kim Jr. as he lay on the floor, attempting to protect himself. The incident, caught on cellphone video, quickly went viral and sparked outrage across the country. In the 1-minute video, Kim Jr. can be seen lying on the locker room floor while being repeatedly pummeled and kicked by other players on the team. School employees allegedly reported to Kim Jr.’s parents that he had been injured not in a hazing incident involving other players on the team but instead in a football practice. The school contacted Kim Jr.’s father, who arrived and found his son bloodied, with a broken arm, and sitting alone on the curb outside of the school. All school officials had left for the day, and no one had called 911 to report the assault or the injuries. Kim Jr. suffered a broken arm as a result of the beating, after the boys intentionally took his throwing arm and bent it behind his back while another boy jumped onto him. Kim Jr. suffered other multiple injuries, including the broken arm, which required surgery. He continues to suffer from constant pain, mental trauma, and concussion-like symptoms, making it impossible for him to continue to attend school or participate in football.
Aftermath
In the wake of the video, the school district suspended four players, all who have been subsequently charged with 3rd degree assault for their participation in the hazing-related beating. The parents of Kim Jr. claim that Davidson High School officials were aware of, and allowed, a type of hazing ritual among the team to happen on a consistent basis without attempting to stop it, despite the danger it possessed. In support of this, the mother of Kim Jr., Mary Rayford-Kim, stated that at least 10 other parents and six school employees had notified them of previous similar incidents. Mobile County Superintendent Martha Peek disputes this, stating that she was unaware of any previous assaults such as the one involving Kim Jr., but Coach Riley admits that he was aware of “rough housing” in the locker room at times.
Anti-Hazing Legislation and Alabama
Currently, 44 states in the U.S. have hazing prevention statutes, commonly referred to as “Anti-Hazing Laws.” Alabama is one such state, and this statute should serve prominently in this particular case. Alabama Statute §16-1-23 states as follows:
Hazing prohibited; penalty.
(a) Hazing is defined as follows:
(1) Any willful action taken or situation created, whether on or off any school, college, university, or other educational premises, which recklessly or intentionally endangers the mental or physical health of any student, or
(2) Any willful act on or off any school, college, university, or other educational premises by any person alone or acting with others in striking, beating, bruising, or maiming; or seriously offering, threatening, or attempting to strike, beat, bruise, or maim, or to do or seriously offer, threaten, or attempt to do physical violence to any student of any such educational institution or any assault upon any such students made for the purpose of committing any of the acts, or producing any of the results to such student as defined in this section.
(3) The term hazing as defined in this section does not include customary athletic events or similar contests or competitions, and is limited to those actions taken and situations created in connection with initiation into or affiliation with any organization. The term hazing does not include corporal punishment administered by officials or employees of public schools when in accordance with policies adopted by local boards of education.
(b) No person shall engage in what is commonly known and recognized as hazing, or encourage, aid, or assist any other person thus offending.
(c) No person shall knowingly permit, encourage, aid, or assist any person in committing the offense of hazing, or willfully acquiesce in the commission of such offense, or fail to report promptly his knowledge or any reasonable information within his knowledge of the presence and practice of hazing in this state to the chief executive officer of the appropriate school, college, university, or other educational institution in this state. Any act of omission or commission shall be deemed hazing under the provisions of this section.
(d) Any person who shall commit the offense of hazing shall be guilty of a Class C misdemeanor as defined by Title 13A.
(e) Any person who participates in the hazing of another, or any organization associated with a school, college, university, or other educational institution in this state which knowingly permits hazing to be conducted by its members or by others subject to its direction or control, shall forfeit any entitlement to public funds, scholarships, or awards which are enjoyed by him or by it and shall be deprived of any sanction or approval granted by the school, college, university, or other educational institution.
Claims
Of particular interest to this current case is the aforementioned section (e) that discusses an organization associated with a school that, “knowingly permits hazing to be conducted.” In this case, it is alleged that multiple parties associated with the school and the football team were well aware of the hazing activities that went on with the team, in which older players would beat and humiliate younger players. In support of application of this to the current case, the complaint cites Davis v. Monroe County Board of Education (1999), in which the Supreme Court ruled that a Title IX recipient, such as a school district, can be found liable in the event of deliberate indifference to known acts of peer harassment and discrimination that are so severe and pervasive that they bar the victim from an educational benefit. As such, the complaint cites a violation of Title IX Civil Rights (42 U.S.C. § 1983). Additionally, the complaint argues that Kim Jr. had a Liberty interest under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution to body integrity and safety. Defendants deprived Kim Jr. of this right by concealing, hiding, and covering up their policy and custom of promoting, encouraging, authorizing, and permitting hazing on school premises. The complaint also states a Monel Claim against the Mobile County Board of Education, under which local governments and agencies can be sued as persons under § 1983 and may face liability when a government policy or custom gives rise to constitutional deprivation. Here, the argument is that the school was not only aware of the hazing but condoned it, perhaps implicitly, by their lack of doing anything to stop it, and that the hazing resulted in a deprivation of Kim Jr.’s constitutional rights.
The complaint also lists a variety of state-level claims, including a negligence per se violation of Alabama’s Anti-Hazing Law; negligent infliction of emotional distress; premises liability; negligent training, hiring, supervision, and retention; respondeat superior liability of the Mobile County Public School System; and a violation of Education Code Safety Laws. The suit is seeking $6 million in compensation for Kim Jr. and $3 million for each of his parents, as well as attorney’s fees and costs.
Michael S. Carroll is an Associate Professor of Sport Management at Troy University specializing in research related to sport law and risk management in sport and recreation.
