Nelson v. Ohio High Sch. Athletic Ass'n

122 N.E.3d 239

2018 Ohio 4169

Robert NELSON, et al., Legal Guardians for Minor, J.R., Plaintiffs-Appellees,

v.OHIO HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION, Defendant-appellant.

NO. 1-18-12

Court of Appeals of Ohio, Third District, Allen County.

Date of Decision: October 15, 2018

Steven L. Craig, Canton, and Stanley R. Evans, Sidney, for Appellant

Robert B. Fitzgerald, Richard T. Reese, Lima, and Terence R. Coates, Cincinnati, for Appellees

SHAW, J.

{¶ 1} Defendant-Appellant, the Ohio High School Athletic Association ("OHSAA") appeals the February 8, 2018 judgment of the Allen County Court of Common Pleas granting the request for injunctive relief filed by Robert and Nicole Nelson (collectively the "Nelsons") as legal guardians of J.R., and finding J.R. eligible to participate in interscholastic athletics at Lima Senior High School, thereby overriding the decision of the OHSAA's Executive Director Office on J.R.'s ineligibility.

Factual Background

{¶ 2} J.R. is a minor, who was born in 2002 in New York and is a United States citizen. J.R. moved to St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, with his biological parents, who remain residing there.

{¶ 3} In August of 2016, J.R. moved to Lima, Ohio to live with the Nelsons. The Nelsons filed an application to become J.R.'s legal guardians on August 25, 2016, which was granted on January 27, 2017. During the 2016-2017 school year, J.R. attended middle school as an eighth grade student and then matriculated into Lima Senior High School as a ninth grade student for the 2017-2018 school year. J.R. sought to participate in interscholastic basketball, track, lacrosse, and any other athletic endeavor of his choice while attending Lima Senior. Lima Senior is a current member school of the OHSAA, and was also a member school during the 2017-2018 school year.

{¶ 4} On September 22, 2017, John Zell, Director of Athletics at Lima Senior, emailed Roxanne Price, Director of Compliance and Sporting Behavior in the OHSAA's Executive Director's Office inquiring of J.R.'s eligibility to participate in interscholastic athletics at Lima Senior. Zell did not mention J.R.'s name, but simply stated "We have a 9th grade athlete whose parents do not live in Ohio. The student is living with another family of no relation who have had custody pursuant to a court order for over one year. They have been residents of Ohio for over one year. Please advise." (Def. Ex. D.)

{¶ 5} On September 25, 2017, Price responded to the email directing Zell to OHSAA Bylaw 4-6-3, which states:

A student whose parents reside outside the state of Ohio will be ineligible for interscholastic athletics in a member school.

(2017-2018 OHSAA Handbook, Def. Ex. B at 51).

{¶ 6} There are several exceptions to Bylaw 4-6-3. Exception 1 to Bylaw 4-6-3 states:

EXCEPTION 1: The Executive Director's office may declare a student who is the subject of a custody order issued by a court of proper jurisdiction conferring custody upon a grandparent, aunt, uncle or sibling who resides in Ohio, if, in the sole discretion of the Executive Director's office, Executive Director's office determines that the purpose of this change in custody was not for athletic reasons, but purely for the best interest of the student in terms of the student's mental, physical and educational well-being. The Executive Director's office may grant eligibility to a student whose legal custodian, pursuant to a court order, has had legal custody of the student for a minimum of one year and who has become a bona fide resident of the state of Ohio. Such a student is ineligible until declared eligible by the Executive Director's office.

{¶ 7} Price explained her response to Zell that: "Bylaw 4-6-3 indicates that an individual who has had custody of a student for one year and that individual becomes a resident of Ohio, the student can meet exception 1. This means that the custodians had to have had custody for one year prior to moving to Ohio...with the student. If the custodians were already living in Ohio and the student came to live with them and then they became the custodians, this will not permit the use of exception 1. There is no provision for a student whose parents do not live in Ohio to be able to become eligible after the new custodians, who are not a primary relative, have had custody for a year. The custodians and the student would have had to move to Ohio together and the custodians would have had to be legal custodians prior to the move to Ohio." (Def. Ex. D.)

{¶ 8} Price asked Zell for further clarification, " I can't ascertain from the question posed, if the student and his legal custodians moved to Ohio together and if the legal custody preceded the move to Ohio. I also do not know if they have legal custody or ‘guardianship.’ Please provide more information." (Def. Ex. D.)

{¶ 9} In a reply email, Zell informed Price that "the parents are the legal guardians and not custodial parents. If they are legal guardians in essence they are his parents...correct?" (Def. Ex. D.) Zell further inquired whether there would be a need to meet any of the exceptions for Bylaw 4-6-3. Price responded that for purposes of Bylaw 4-6-3, "parents are defined as ‘biological’ or adoptive parents." (Id.) She further explained that "[i]f the individuals in your previous email are not the student's actual biological or adoptive parents, and the biological or adoptive parents do not live in Ohio, then the legal custodians must be a primary relative (aunt, uncle, grandparent, sibling) in order for the student to have any eligibility, at any time, at any member school." (Id.)

{¶ 10} Thereafter, the Nelsons retained counsel who contacted legal counsel for the OHSAA on October 30, 2017, to further inquire of the initial ruling from the Executive Director's Office on J.R.'s ineligibility under bylaw 4-6-3. Legal counsel for the OHSAA reiterated the Association's rationale for the inapplicability of Exception 1 to J.R.'s case previously given by Price. Specifically, because (1) the Nelsons were not a parent, grandparent, uncle, aunt or sibling of J.R.; and (2) because Nelsons were already residents of Ohio prior to J.R. moving to the state and obtaining guardianship of him, and thus since they did not move to Ohio together after having legal custody for one year, the circumstances outlined in Exception 1 did not apply. The Nelsons' counsel further inquired if J.R. could be deemed eligible under Exception 9 to Bylaw 4-6-3, which states that:

Exception 9: A student may be declared eligible for interscholastic athletics when the student's parents are citizens of the United States who reside outside the United States. The student is not eligible until declared eligible by the Executive Director's office upon submission of the appropriate documents.

(2017-2018 OHSAA Handbook, Def. Ex. B at 5). The OHSAA's legal counsel indicated that Exception 9 did not apply. He explained that even though J.R.'s parents, by virtue of being citizens of the U.S. Virgin Islands, are United States citizens thus satisfying the first portion of the exception, the second component of the exception is not satisfied because St. Thomas is a United States territory and therefore J.R.'s parents do not "reside outside of the United States" under the interpretation of the exception by the Executive Director's Office. In other words, the Executive Director's Office interpretation of the United States under this exception includes all U.S. territories and in this context treats St. Thomas as no different from Indiana, Kentucky, or any other state.

Procedural History

{¶ 11} On November 20, 2017, the Nelsons, as legal guardians, filed a verified complaint for injunctive and other equitable relief on behalf of J.R. in the Allen County Court of Common Pleas seeking to enjoin the OHSAA's enforcement of its determination of J.R.'s ineligibility to participate in interscholastic athletics at Lima Senior. As the basis for the complaint, the Nelsons alleged the OHSAA's decision regarding J.R.'s ineligibility on the grounds that neither Exception 1 or Exception 9 applied to his case to be arbitrary and capricious. The Nelsons also filed a motion for injunctive and equitable relief and included an affidavit from their counsel indicating that he had attempted to resolve the matter with the OHSAA's legal representative over the course of the preceding month, but to no avail.

{¶ 12} On November 21, 2017, the trial court granted a Temporary Restraining Order enjoining the OHSAA from enforcing its determination of J.R.'s ineligibility and permitting J.R. to participate in interscholastic athletics while the proceedings were pending.¹ The OHSAA subsequently filed an answer and response. In its answer, the OHSAA asserted inter alia the affirmative defense that the trial court lacked jurisdiction to hear the case because the Nelsons failed to exhaust their administrative remedies by not pursing the internal appeal process put in place by the OHSAA and its member schools.

The Trial Court's Decision

{¶ 13} On December 8, 2017, the trial court held a hearing on the Nelsons' motion for injunctive relief. Both Robert and Nicole Nelson testified in support of their motion. The OHSAA presented the testimony of Roxanne Price, the representative of the Executive Director's Office who made the initial determination on J.R.'s ineligibility. Several exhibits were admitted by both sides.

{¶ 14} On February 8, 2018, the trial court issued a decision granting the Nelsons' request for injunctive relief. Specifically, the trial court found that the OHSAA's determination that Exception 1 and Exception 9 to the residency Bylaw 4-6-3 do not apply to J.R.'s circumstances to be arbitrary and capricious.

{¶ 15} With respect to Exception 1, the trial court found the following regarding the second section of the exception pertaining to legal custodians:

This Court agrees with the OHSAA that By-law 4-6-3 Exception 1 is not ambiguous. While not ambiguous, this Court agrees with the Plaintiffs that the

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