The Indiana Court of Appeals has denied, as moot, the interlocutory appeal of the trial court’s order denying a request for a preliminary injunction. The injunction was being sought by the father of a high school student athlete, who believed the Indiana with Old Coach High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) erred when it rendered his son ineligible after he transferred from one Indiana school to another.
The Court deemed the issue moot and remanded the case back to the trial court with instructions to dismiss.
By way of background, Josh Daniel was a student-athlete, who prior to October 21, 2020, lived in Schererville with his mother. Josh attended Lake Central High School during his freshman (2017-18), sophomore (2018-19), junior (2019-20), and first part of his senior (2020-21) year. While at Lake Central, Josh participated on the varsity wrestling team during his freshman and junior years. He did not participate during his sophomore year by his own choice. In October 2020, Josh moved from his mother’s Schererville home to his father Rick’s “just-rented” apartment in Burns Harbor, which is in the Chesterton school district.
Rick enrolled Josh in Chesterton High School, and, on November 4, 2020, Rick completed an IHSAA transfer report (the Transfer Report) indicating that Josh was moving in with his father within the Chesterton school district and was seeking full athletic eligibility. Pursuant to the IHSAA transfer rule, a student transferring schools with a corresponding bona fide change of residence by the parents will get full eligibility. However, if the student transferred for “primarily” athletic reasons or as the result of undue influence, the student will have no eligibility for one year following the student’s enrollment at the new school.
The Transfer Report was sent to Lake Central, which completed its portion of the report and opined that Josh’s transfer was for primarily athletic reasons and therefore Josh should be ineligible to participate in athletics for one year. Lake Central attached a memo indicating that Rick had a conflict with the Lake Central wrestling coach and that Josh withdrew from Lake Central just prior to the wrestling season. After Lake Central completed its portion of the Transfer Report, Chesterton completed its portion and attached a memo similarly opining that Josh’s transfer was for primarily athletic reasons. Chesterton also recommended that Josh be athletically ineligible for one year.
Based upon the information and recommendations provided in the Transfer Report, on December 7, 2020, IHSAA Assistant Commissioner Sandra Walter ruled Josh athletically ineligible at Chesterton, pursuant to IHSAA Rule 19-4. Rick disagreed with that decision and appealed to the IHSAA Review Committee. The Review Committee held a hearing on January 14, 2021.
During the hearing, Josh stated that at a November 2019 practice at Lake Central, he was wrestling with the coach and was rendered unconscious for thirty to sixty seconds. Josh stated that after that event the coach did not send him to the trainer and told him and his teammates not to tell anyone what happened. Rick learned about this “knock-out” event in February 2020 but did not mention anything to school administration at the time. Evidence was also presented that Rick had a longstanding dislike of the Lake Central wrestling coach, had unsuccessfully tried himself to become a part of the Lake Central wrestling program on numerous occasions, had gotten into a physical altercation with the wrestling coach in January 2020, and had attempted to get the coach fired. Rick’s aversion to the Lake Central wrestling coach was so strong that Josh did not wrestle his sophomore year. Additional evidence indicated that Chesterton had a historically strong wrestling program that needed a wrestler in Josh’s 126-pound weight class. The record further demonstrated that Josh moved to Rick’s newly rented apartment after the beginning of the school year but right before the start of wrestling season. Following the hearing, the Review Committee issued its extensive and detailed decision on January 25, 2021, concluding that Josh’s transfer to Chesterton was primarily motivated by athletics and therefore violated IHSAA Rule 19-4.
Rick and Josh referred the Review Committee’s decision to the CRP as provided by Indiana Code Section 20-26-14-6.2 On January 27, 2021, the CRP conducted a review of the Review Committee’s decision, as well as a review of supplemental material submitted by Rick and Josh in support of reversal of that decision. The following day, the CRP issued its findings of fact, and sided with the IHSAA.
Rick and Josh immediately filed a complaint in the trial court, seeking a temporary restraining order, preliminary and permanent injunction, judicial review of the decision of the CRP, and a declaratory judgment.
On January 29, 2021, the trial court held a hearing on Rick and Josh’s request for a temporary restraining order and, at the conclusion of the hearing, granted a temporary restraining order permitting Josh to wrestle in the sectionals of the IHSAA wrestling tournament occurring on January 30. The trial court then set a preliminary injunction hearing for the following week. The trial court held a hearing on the request for a preliminary injunction on February 5, 2021. Following the hearing, the trial court issued extensive findings of fact, conclusions thereon, and order affirming the CRP’s decision and denying Rick and Josh’s request for preliminary injunction. Accordingly, Josh was found ineligible to wrestle in the regional wrestling tournament. This interlocutory appeal ensued. Josh graduated from high school in the spring of 2021.
The Court of Appeals deemed the “threshold and dispositive issue in this appeal (as one of) mootness.” The Indiana Supreme Court has explained the mootness doctrine as follows:
The long-standing rule in Indiana courts has been that a case is deemed moot when no effective relief can be rendered to the parties before the court. When the controversy at issue has been ended or settled, or somehow disposed of so as to render it unnecessary to decide the question involved, the case will be dismissed.
“It is patently obvious here that, because Josh has graduated from high school, the controversy regarding his senior-year athletic eligibility at Chesterton has ended, and there is no action the IHSAA could now take that would have any positive or adverse effect of substantial significance on Josh,” wrote the court.
The court also found that the “public interest exception to the mootness doctrine, which may be invoked when the issue involves a question of great public importance which is likely to recur” does not apply in the instant case.
“Josh and Rick do not argue that the specific athletic eligibility determination here is an issue of great public importance or one that is likely to recur,” wrote the court.
Daniels et al. v. Case Review Panel et al.; Court of Appeals of Indiana; Case No. 21A-MI-430; 10/29/21
Attorneys of Record: (For Appellants) Michael J. Jasaitis, Ryan A. Deutmeyer, Austgen Kuiper Jasaitis P.C., Crown Point, Indiana. (For Appellee) Theodore E. Rokita, Attorney General; Frances Barrow, Deputy Attorney General, Indianapolis, Indiana. (For Appellee IHSAA) Lewis S. Wooton, Wooton Hoy, LLC, Greenfield, Indiana.
