A former high school student athlete has dropped his lawsuit against a school district and several administrators, who he initially claimed had violated the U.S. Constitution when they denied him playing time and allegedly retaliated against him when he took to social media to voice his displeasure.
In a statement from his attorney to the local paper, the Medina-Gazette (Ohio), plaintiff Chase Johanson said he was dropping his lawsuit against the Medina City School District, his former coach, athletic director, and principal, ironically, because of “community reaction on social media.”
“Frankly, the media attention this matter garnered, and the sometimes vicious and personal public response through social media was more than I wanted my parents to endure,” Johanson said. “The stress has adversely affected my mother’s health, which is more important to me even than the principle raised in my lawsuit.”
In his complaint, Johanson claimed his relationship with the basketball program at Medina High School and the head coach “soured” in 2010 during his sophomore season when he had a conflict between a school-sponsored musical event and a basketball game.
The plaintiff claimed that because he went to the musical event that he was ineligible to participate in one half of the next game. The plaintiff’s mother complained to the athletic director, and the coach was “required to apologize,” according to the complaint. The plaintiff’s playing time decreased from that point on and he was allegedly “singled out for negative treatment.”
The plaintiff went on to highlight other instances of perceived mistreatment by the coach, leading up to his senior year. On December 14, 2012, the plaintiff sat on the bench the entire game. Afterward, he sent the following private tweet: “Am I that bad that I cannot play on a losing team?” The plaintiff sent other tweets, all of which were allegedly seen by the defendants. Ultimately, he was removed from the team. The head coach claimed it was because he was “consistently late to practice. The principal allegedly said: “You were kicked off the minute you tweeted.”
After the plaintiff graduated from school in June of 2013, the plaintiff sued.
In Count I, he alleged that his twitter activity was protected speech under the Constitution. He further charged that he was retaliated against in light of his protected speech. This caused “humiliation and embarrassment, a loss of liberty, and lost opportunities for both personal enrichment and potential scholarships.”
In Counts II and III, the plaintiff alleged that he was “denied a liberty interest without due process of law,” alluding to the fact that there was no prohibition in the student handbook for sending “private communications through social media.”
The plaintiff closed his complaint by asking for $75,000 in damages
