Breighner v. MHSAA

662 N.W.2d 413

255 Mich. App. 567

Martin B. BREIGHNER, III, and Kathryn Breighner, Plaintiffs-Appellees/Cross Appellants, v. MICHIGAN HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION, INC., Defendant-Appellant/Cross Appellee.

Docket No. 243618.

Court of Appeals of Michigan.

Submitted February 5, 2003, at Lansing.

Decided March 6, 2003, at 9:00 a.m.

Released for Publication May 15, 2003.

Wayne R. Smith and Lester N. Turner, Harbor Springs, for the plaintiffs.

Edmund J. Sikovski, Jr., Ann Arbor, for the defendant.

Before: SAWYER, P.J., and JANSEN and DONOFRIO, JJ.

DONOFRIO, J.

Defendant Michigan High School Athletic Association, Inc., (MHSAA) appeals as of right a grant of summary disposition in favor of plaintiffs, Martin B. Breighner, III, and Kathryn Breighner, pursuant to MCR 2.116(C)(8). Plaintiffs cross-appeal. We reverse.

I. Facts

The facts in this case are not in dispute. In 2001 plaintiffs' son, Jordan Breighner, was a member of the Harbor Springs High School ski team. Harbor Springs High School is a member of the MHSAA; therefore, the ski team is subject to MHSAA regulations. Beyond his participation in the ski team, Jordan competed in a ski race in Canada. Jordan later found out that he had exceeded the number of "non-sanctioned" races high-school ski-team members are allowed to participate in under the MHSAA rules. As a result, he was disqualified from competing on the Harbor Springs ski team for the remainder of the season.

Plaintiffs attempted to obtain information from the MHSAA regarding its criteria for sanctioning races, but were unsatisfied with what the MHSAA provided. Ultimately, they sent the MHSAA a letter requesting the information under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), M.C.L. § 15.231 et seq. However, defendant provided no additional information. Thereafter, plaintiffs filed an action in the Emmet Circuit Court seeking a declaratory judgment that the MHSAA was a public body for purposes of the FOIA, that the requested documents were nonexempt, and that defendant had violated the FOIA.

Plaintiffs and defendant moved for summary disposition. The trial court granted plaintiffs' motion, ruling that the MHSAA was a public body for purposes of the FOIA. Specifically, the trial court held that the MHSAA was "primarily funded by or through state or local authority." MCL 15.232(d)(iv). The court reasoned that because the MHSAA was funded through tournament gate receipts, the taking of such funds constituted indirect public funding. Also, the court stated that the MHSAA enjoyed the schools' moneymaking capacity as its own. The court declined to decide plaintiffs' arguments that the MHSAA also fell within two alternative definitions of "public body": (1) "created by state or local authority," M.C.L. § 15.232(d)(iv); and (2) "[a] county, city, township, village, intercounty, intercity, or regional governing body, council, school district, special district, or municipal corporation, or a board, department, commission, council, or agency thereof," M.C.L. § 15.232(d)(iii). The instant appeal followed. Plaintiffs cross-appeal, claiming that the trial court's order, by implication, requires the MHSAA to provide the requested information.

II. Standard of Review

On appeal, we are asked to determine whether the MHSAA is a public body for purposes of the FOIA. Because this is a question of statutory interpretation, our review is de novo. Oakland Co. Bd. of Comm'rs v. Michigan Property & Casualty Guaranty Ass'n, 456 Mich. 590, 610, 575 N.W.2d 751 (1998). Moreover, our review of a trial court's decision regarding summary disposition in a declaratory-judgment action is de novo. Michigan Ed. Employees Mut. Ins. Co. v. Turow, 242 Mich.App. 112, 114, 617 N.W.2d 725 (2000).

III. The MHSAA

The MHSAA was originally founded in 1924,

"to exercise control over the interscholastic athletic activities of all schools of the state through agreement with the Superintendent of Public Instruction."... Historically, the interscholastic athletic programs of all Michigan public schools were supervised and controlled by either the Michigan Superintendent for Public Instruction or by the State board of Education.... The MHSAA was housed within the Michigan Department of Education, and its Executive Director was known as the "State Director of Athletics." ... The MHSAA's handbook, rules, and regulations were part of the Administrative Code of the State of Michigan. [Communities for Equity v. Michigan High School Athletic Ass'n., 178 F.Supp.2d 805, 810 (W.D.Mich., 2001) (quoting trial exhibits).¹]

The MHSAA became an incorporated, nonprofit membership organization in 1972, and states its purpose in its Articles of Incorporation as follows:

To create, establish and provide for, supervise and conduct interscholastic programs throughout the state consistent with the educational values of the high school curriculums, the interest in physical welfare and fitness of the students participating therein by giving the opportunity to participate in athletics designed to meet the needs and abilities of all and to make and adopt such rules and regulations and interpretation thereof to carry out the foregoing and to further provide for the training and registering of officials and to publish and distribute such information consistent therewith and to do any and all acts and services necessary to carry out the intent hereof.

In 1972, the Legislature transferred control of interscholastic athletics from the State Board of Education to the individual districts' school boards. 1972 PA 2, § 379 (repealed 1976); MCL 340.379 (repealed); MCL 380. 1289 (amended). In 1995, the Legislature removed the MHSAA as the "official" organization overseeing interscholastic sports. In doing so, the Legislature stated that school districts were allowed to "join organizations as part of performing the functions of the school district." MCL 380.11a(4). Despite the removal of the official designation, recent estimates are that over seven hundred Michigan high schools are members of the MHSAA, over eighty percent of which are public. Communities for Equity, supra at 810. The MHSAA requires that member districts pass the following resolution to join the MHSAA:

The Board of Education/Governing Body hereby delegates to the Superintendent or his/her designee(s) the responsibility for the supervision and control of said activities, and hereby accepts the Constitution and By-Laws of said association and adopts as its own the rules, regulations and interpretations (as minimum standards), as published in the current HANDBOOK and qualifications as published in the BULLETIN as the governing code under which the said school(s) shall conduct its program of interscholastic activities and agrees to primary enforcement of said rules, regulations, interpretations and qualifications. In addition, it is hereby agreed that schools which host or participate in the association's meets and tournaments shall follow and enforce all tournament policies and procedures.

The MHSAA is governed by its Representative Council, which is made up of nineteen voting members: fourteen members elected by member schools, four members appointed by the Representative Council, and one representative of the state superintendent of education. Communities for Equity, supra at 812. Each of the fourteen elected and four appointed members must be a faculty member or board-of-education member from a member school. Id. The MHSAA also has a five-member Executive Committee, all of whom are members of the Representative Council. Id. The Representative Council has "`[g]eneral control of interscholastic athletic policies,'" while the Executive Committee has power to "`[m]ake all rules necessary for the effective control and government of interschool activities....'" Id. As a whole, the MHSAA "regulates interscholastic athletic competition between member schools and sets standards for school membership and eligibility of students to participate in interscholastic athletics." Id. at 811.

IV. The FOIA

The FOIA is an act "to provide for public access to certain public records of public bodies." 1976 PA 442. "In enacting the FOIA, the Michigan Legislature made it public policy that citizens are entitled to complete information concerning the affairs of their government so that they can fully participate in the democratic process." Sclafani v. Domestic Violence Escape, 255 Mich.App. 260, 263-64, 660 N.W.2d 97 (2003). MCL 15.231(2) provides an express statement of the public policy, or legislative intent, behind the FOIA:

It is the public policy of this state that all persons, except those persons incarcerated in state or local correctional facilities, are entitled to full and complete information regarding the affairs of government and the official acts of those who represent them as public officials and public employees, consistent with this act. The people shall be informed so that they may fully participate in the democratic process.

The FOIA defines "public body" in M.C.L. § 15.232(d) as follows:

(i) A state officer, employee, agency, department, division, bureau, board, commission, council, authority, or other body in the executive branch of the state government, but does not include the governor or lieutenant governor, the executive office of the governor or lieutenant governor, or employees thereof.

(ii) An agency, board, commission, or council in the legislative branch of the state government.

(iii) A county, city, township, village, intercounty, intercity, or regional governing body, council, school district, special district, or municipal corporation, or a board, department, commission, council, or agency thereof.

(iv) Any other body which is created by state or local authority or which isprimarily funded by or through state or local authority.

(v) The judiciary, including the office of the county clerk and employees thereof when acting in the capacity of clerk to the circuit court, is not included in...