Football and the Courts

There was interesting article in the Tulsa World today (here and here), wherein the world of grade school football (yes, grade school football) intersected with the state and federal court system. A third grade football player and his father sought a court order forcing the Indian Nations Football Conference to allow the boy to enter the third-grade football draft or, alternatively, to hold the draft until the question of the child's residency could be settled. The child and his family live in the Union school district, but had made plans to move into the Jenks school district. The lawsuit apparently had a unique sense of urgency because the draft is scheduled for Sunday, July 22, 2007.

The boy and his father initially filed their petition in state court (to be heard by District Judge Gordon McAllister). They had also requested an emergency restraining order. However, the Indian Nations Football Conference filed a Notice of Removal, requesting that a federal judge hear the case. The conference argued that the plaintiffs were pursing a federal claim under 42 U.S.C. sec. 1983.

The federal case was initially assigned to Judge G. Frizzell, but, because of a conflict, the case was re-assigned to Judge C. Eagan. The case did not last long in federal court. In a sua sponte Order, Judge Eagan remanded the case back to state court. The Court found that the plaintiff had not pursued a federal claim in his petition. The plaintiffs' counsel had apparently informally told the defendant that he planned to file a claim under the 14th Amendment. However, the Court found this oral statement between counsel insufficient for purposes of federal question subject matter jurisdiction. "[A]n intent to revise a petition does not meet the 'face of the well-pleaded complaint rule.'"

The remand order sent the case back to state court, where both sides appeared before Judge McAllister. Judge McAllister apparently urged the parties to work out an agreement. And they did. The boy will be placed into a "blind draft" to determine which Jenks team he will be on, and his family must move into a house in the Jenks district. According to the article, the football conference, which includes Jenks, Union and 29 other districts, requires players to live in the districts in which they are playing. The rule is in place to prevent recuiting.

Miller Dollarhide, P.C., v. Moshe Tal, 2007 OK 58

The plaintiff had, on several occasions, requested that the trial judge recuse from the case on the basis of "bias." The trial judge refused. While the plaintiff pursued several remedies related to the recusal issue, the trial court entered a default judgment against the plaintiff. The plaintiff later attempted to have the judgment vacated in light of the pending recusal proceedings, but the trial judge denied his request.

HELD: The trial court erred in continuing to entertain proceedings during the pendency of the disqualification process. "When a Rule 15 proceeding to seek disqualification of a trial judge is initiated, the trial court must refrain from presiding over the case until the disqualification ruling is memorialized and the movant has, at the movant's option, exhausted the Rule 15 procedure." In fact, the trial court has no discretion in this regard; it must refrain from further participation, lest a party's right to due process of law be violated.

The Court also held that the trial court abused its discretion in refusing to disqualify on the basis of "bias." The Court cited certain dialogue between the trial judge and the plaintiff, and held that "although the trial court may have believed himself to be unprejudiced, unbiased and impartial, circumstances . . are of such a nature at to cause doubts as to the impartiality. . . [E]rror, if any, should be made in favor of disqualification."
Opinion