The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed a lower court’s grant of a preliminary injunction, finding instead that a student athlete’s anxiety disorder did not qualify as a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which would have allowed the student athlete to retain his eligibility immediately upon transferring schools.
A.M. is a high school student in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The Louisiana High School Athletic Association (LHSAA) is a nonprofit voluntary membership corporation whose members consist of both public and private schools in the state. LHSAA coordinates and regulates high school interscholastic athletics at all of its member schools, including by issuing and enforcing eligibility rules for student athletes.
A.M. was enrolled at Episcopal High School until September 2011, when he was beginning his sophomore year. In the spring of 2011, A.M.’s grades fell, and his parents had him evaluated by Dr. Candy Lawson, a psychologist who determined that A.M. suffered from an anxiety disorder that was negatively interfering with his performance at school. Dr. Lawson made detailed recommendations concerning academic accommodations that might assist A.M. In the fall of 2011, A.M. transferred to the Dunham School. At Dunham, A.M. received individualized instruction and other academic accommodations tailored to his specific needs, some of which were unavailable at Episcopal. Both Episcopal and Dunham are private Christian schools. Both are members of LHSAA.
Because A.M. transferred from one school to another within the same residence zone, he became subject to LHSAA’s “transfer rule,” which renders a student who transfers schools within a residence zone ineligible for athletics for one year from the date of transfer. The transfer rule exists to prevent recruiting of high school athletes and to discourage transfers on the basis of athletics. A.M. filed for an exemption from the transfer rule with the LHSAA. It was denied. John Mann, on behalf of his son, then brought suit in state court. After a motion for a temporary restraining order in the state suit was denied, Mann dismissed that suit without prejudice. A.M. then sat out six games of the 2011 football season because he was ineligible under the transfer rule.
On May 2, 2012, before the beginning of the 2012 football season, Mann, on behalf of A.M., filed a complaint in the Middle District of Louisiana alleging violations of the ADA and requesting declaratory and injunctive relief prohibiting LHSAA from continuing to treat A.M. as ineligible to participate in athletics under its transfer rule. Mann filed a motion for a preliminary injunction seeking to enjoin LHSAA from imposing on A.M. the additional time remaining in the ineligibility period, which made up the first four games of the season that began in the fall of 2012. Mann contended that A.M.’s transfer was due to a disability, because the Dunham School provides academic services and accommodations more tailored to the learning needs that result from his anxiety disorder than Episcopal, and that imposing the transfer rule in this situation violated the ADA.
The other LHSAA rule at issue in this case is the “restitution rule.” LHSAA Rule 5.7.2 states:
“If a student is ineligible according to LHSAA rules but is permitted to participate in interscholastic competition contrary to such LHSAA rules but in accordance with the terms of a court order of any kind including but not limited to a declaratory judgment, temporary restraining order, preliminary injunction, or permanent injunction, against his/her school and/or the LHSAA and said court order is subsequently voluntarily vacated, stayed, reversed or [it is] finally determined by the court that the court order including any injunctive relief is not or was not justified, any one or more of the following actions shall be taken against such school in the interest of restitution and fairness to the competing schools:
Require that individual or team records and performance achieved during participation by such ineligible student shall be vacated or stricken.
Require that team victories shall be forfeited to the opponent.
Require that team or individual awards earned by such ineligible student be returned to the Association.”
In his motion for a preliminary injunction, Mann also sought an order prohibiting LHSAA from imposing the restitution rule against A.M. or Dunham if an injunction regarding A.M.’s eligibility was granted and then later vacated or reversed.
On August 20, 2012, after an evidentiary hearing, the district court granted the preliminary injunction, which enjoined LHSAA from: (1) treating A.M. as ineligible to participate in any interscholastic athletics at Dunham for which he is otherwise eligible, and; (2) imposing sanctions under the restitution rule against A.M. or Dunham in the event the injunction is later reversed or vacated or if LHSAA prevails on the merits. LHSAA unsuccessfully sought a stay of the ruling. A.M. then participated in the 2012 football season under the terms of the injunction.
LHSAA appealed that order.
The 5th Circuit reviewed the plaintiff’s argument that the case is moot since A.M. has already competed during the period he was deemed ineligible and thus “that time period has now passed. (Therefore), there is no remaining dispute about A.M.’s eligibility.”
The LHSAA challenged that position “by pointing out that A.M. has not graduated and will participate in his final football season in the fall of 2013.” If the injunction is reversed, it argued, A.M. “will be subject to the remaining ineligibility period that would have applied if the injunction had not issued, and will be ineligible for the first four games of the upcoming football season. Thus, A.M.’s continuing eligibility is still a live issue and this court retains the power to issue at least a partial remedy to LHSAA. Further, the parties continue to dispute the applicability and validity of the restitution rule in this case, which also renders this dispute live. See, e.g., McPherson v. Mich. High Sch. Athletic Ass’n, Inc., 119 F.3d 453, 458-59 (6th Cir. 1997) (holding that eligibility dispute was not moot even when student had graduated where a similar restitution rule remained at issue); Pottgen v. Mo. State High Sch. Activities Ass’n, 40 F.3d 926, 928 (8th Cir. 1994). “
Next, the panel of judges examined the district court’s grant of the preliminary injunction.
“A plaintiff must establish four elements in order for a preliminary injunction to issue:
(1) a substantial likelihood of success on the merits, (2) a substantial threat of irreparable injury if the injunction is not issued, (3) that the threatened injury if the injunction is denied outweighs any harm that will result if the injunction is granted, and (4) that the grant of an injunction will not disserve the public interest.
Janvey v. Alguire, 647 F.3d 585, 595 (5th Cir. 2011) (quoting Byrum v. Landreth, 566 F.3d 442, 445 (5th Cir. 2009)). The district court found that each element of this test was satisfied.”
The panel never got past the first element, according to the 5th Circuit.
“We reverse the district court’s finding that Mann has shown that he is substantially likely to prevail on the merits of his claim that A.M. is disabled under the ADA,” it found. “Of course, we do not hold that anxiety disorders can never be a disability under the ADA, and it could still be possible for Mann to prove that A.M. is disabled at trial on a fuller record. We conclude only that on the record before us, Mann did not meet his burden to show that he is substantially likely to succeed on the merits of A.M.’s ADA claim.”
Next, the panel turned to “that portion of the district court’s order that enjoined LHSAA from imposing its restitution rule against A.M. or Dunham in the event the injunction is reversed or vacated. Though at times professing to contest the general validity of the restitution rule, Mann did not brief any specific challenge to the restitution rule beyond stating that it is retaliatory because it allows penalties to be imposed against a student or school who challenges an eligibility decision of the LHSAA in court. On the facts of this case, in the procedural posture in which it comes to us, the restitution rule—which has not yet been applied to any party—is an attempt to restore the situation to what it would have been absent the injunction, which we have determined was erroneously issued. We therefore reverse and vacate the injunction in full.”
John Gray Mann v. Louisiana High School Athletic Association, Inc.; 5th Cir.; No. 12-30961, 2013 U.S. App. LEXIS 14084; 7/11/13
