The New Hampshire Supreme Courtroom dismissed a lawsuit filed by a Harmony athlete in opposition to the state’s athletic supervisory group, ruling that the previous pupil lacked standing within the case and the courtroom system lacked jurisdiction over the claims.
In 2022, a nationally ranked highschool lacrosse participant, Quinton Cepiel, sued the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Affiliation as a result of he was barred from enjoying his senior season.
Cepiel attended Cardigan Mountain College till 2019 and completed ninth grade. He then moved on to St. Paul’s College within the fall of 2019.
After most sports activities, together with NHIAA sports activities, had been cancelled on account of COVID within the spring of 2020, Cepiel transferred to Bishop Guertin in Nashua however suffered a season-ending damage earlier than he had the chance to play within the spring of 2021.
After enjoying for BG within the spring of 2022, his father raised the problem of Quinton’s eligibility for his senior 12 months on the faculty, in accordance with courtroom paperwork.
“BG defined that the NHIAA’s eight-semester rule included Quinton’s ninth grade 12 months at CMS and that ‘neither COVID nor an damage are enough grounds for an attraction of the rule,’” in accordance with courtroom paperwork.
The Cepiels initially sued the NHIAA and BG, and later settled all claims in opposition to the college. Nevertheless, the plaintiffs alleged that by not permitting Cepiel to play, the NHIAA was in violation of the State Structure and the New Hampshire Administrative Procedures Act, the plaintiffs’ due course of rights and the state’s antitrust regulation.
The Supreme Courtroom famous that solely the principal of a faculty, not a father or mother, can request an eligibility waiver from the NHIAA. As well as, the justices mentioned the Cepiel household failed to determine how they had been harmed by the choice. Through the 2022-23 faculty 12 months, Quinton attended Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts.
He went on to attend Villanova College.
This week, the New Hampshire Supreme Courtroom remanded the case again to Superior Courtroom with directions that it’s dismissed.
