Rottmann v. Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Ass'n

349 F. Supp. 2d 922, 2004 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 27506, 2004 WL 2973970
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedDecember 23, 2004
DocketCivil Action 04-1563
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 349 F. Supp. 2d 922 (Rottmann v. Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Ass'n) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rottmann v. Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Ass'n, 349 F. Supp. 2d 922, 2004 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 27506, 2004 WL 2973970 (W.D. Pa. 2004).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

LANCASTER, District Judge.

This is an action in civil rights under the Civil Rights Act of 1871, 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Plaintiff is the head varsity girls’ basketball coach at North Catholic High School. The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (the “PIAA”) suspended plaintiff for one year for violating its Anti-Recruiting Rule. Plaintiff claims that the Rule, which proscribes the recruiting of grade school and high school students for athletic purposes, violates, among other things, her right to freedom of speech.

Plaintiff has filed a motion for a preliminary injunction on the ground that the PIAA’s Anti-Recruiting Rule is facially unconstitutional under the First Amendment because it is a content-based ban on protected speech and is vague and over-broad. She seeks orders lifting her suspension and declaring the Anti-Recruiting Rule unconstitutional. For the reasons set forth below, the motion will be DENIED.

I. BACKGROUND

A. The PIAA and its Anti-Recruiting Ride

For the most part the facts of the case are not in dispute. However, where necessary, we have found the appropriate facts after judging the credibility of the witnesses who testified at the preliminary injunction hearing. In doing so, we have employed the traditional methods of assessing the credibility of witnesses: by considering his or her intelligence, motive, bias, state of mind, and demeanor while on the stand.

The PIAA is a Pennsylvania non-profit corporation. Approximately 1,400 public and private high schools in Pennsylvania have voluntarily joined the PIAA. The PIAA develops and enforces rules regulating interscholastic athletic competition among its member schools. Allegheny County school districts 1 are part of Dis *926 trict VII of the PIAA, also known as the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League, or the “WPIAL.” The parties do not dispute that the PIAA is a state actor for section 1983 purposes. Brentwood Academy v. Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association, 531 U.S. 288, 298-305, 121 S.Ct. 924, 148 L.Ed.2d 807 (2001); National Collegiate Athletic Association v. Tarkanian, 488 U.S. 179, 193 n. 13, 109 S.Ct. 454, 102 L.Ed.2d 469 (1988).

Upon applying for membership in the PIAA, member schools agree to conduct their interscholastic athletic programs in accordance with the PIAA By-Laws and Board of Directors decisions. One such By-Law is the Anti-Recruiting Rule. The Anti-Recruiting Rule, found in Article VI of the PIAA By-Laws, forbids recruiting of students for the purpose, “in whole, or in part,” of participating in athletics at a school.

The Anti-Recruiting Rule subjects schools, and their coaches, to sanctions:

[i]f the District Committee finds that the school, a representative of the school’s athletic personnel, or any other person affiliated with the school, approached a student, or a parent or guardian of that student, or an adult with whom that student resides, and attempted to influence and/or influenced that student to transfer to that school, either in whole or in part, for any athletic purpose, or otherwise engaged in recruiting students, either in whole or in part, for an athletic purpose ...

PIAA Constitution and By-Laws, Article VI, Section 10(C). In addition to the penalties that the PIAA may impose for any violation of its By-Laws, which range from public censure to forfeiture of championship rights to expulsion, the Anti-Recruiting Rule requires any coach found to have engaged in recruiting to be disqualified from coaching any PIAA member teams for a period of at least one year.

The PIAA has amended its Anti-Recruiting Rule several times in recent years. It amended the Rule in May of 2001 after the Pennsylvania General Assembly directed the PIAA to make the Rule more stringent. Under the 2001 amendment, a school found to have recruited students was given the option of either suspending the coach involved in the activity or suffering other sanctions. The PIAA again amended the Rule in December of 2002 to require disqualification, directly by the PIAA, of any coach determined to have engaged in recruiting. In May of 2003, the PIAA added explanatory language regarding the purposes of the Rule and illustrations of activities that would violate the Rule. The main difference between the Anti-Recruiting Rule that existed in December 2002 and the one that exists now is that the current rule explains the purposes of the Rule and includes illustrations of the type of conduct that violates the Rule. The general substance of the Rule has not significantly changed as a result of the recent amendments.

B. Plaintiffs Recruiting and Suspension

In March of 2004, the WPIAL Committee directed North Catholic to investigate information it had received that plaintiff may have engaged in recruiting. Plaintiff was accused of recruiting April Austin, then an eighth-grade student and standout basketball player at St. Bartholomew’s grade school. 2 North Catholic reported back to the Committee, which held a hear *927 ing on the matter on June 29, 2004. The WPIAL Committee determined that plaintiff had engaged in “... recruiting April Austin for an athletic purpose while April was in eighth grade at St. Bartholomew’s Grade School ...” during the 2002-2003 season. 3 July 1, 2004 letter from L. Han-ley to E. Scheid. The WPIAL Committee suspended plaintiff for one year for her post-December 2002 conduct. For her pre-December 2002 conduct, North Catholic was directed to either suspend plaintiff for that same year or be suspended from participation in the PIAA. North Catholic was also publicly censured. Id.

Plaintiff appealed the WPIAL Committee decision to the PIAA Board of Appeal, which held a hearing on July 22, 2004. At the hearing, plaintiff was represented by counsel, presented witnesses and documents, and testified on her own behalf. After the hearing, the Board affirmed the WPIAL Committee’s decision. The Board additionally made the following pertinent findings:

12. During the 2003-2003 girls’ basketball season, Coach Rottmann attended approximately four to six of April’s games at St. Bartholomew.
13. After each contest she attended, Coach Rottmann approached various members of both teams, usually at courtside or in locker rooms, to offer congratulations or to extend a greeting. April Austin was consistently among the players so congratulated or so greeted.
14.

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349 F. Supp. 2d 922, 2004 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 27506, 2004 WL 2973970, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rottmann-v-pennsylvania-interscholastic-athletic-assn-pawd-2004.