Pliuskaitis v. USA Swimming, Inc.
Pliuskaitis v. USA Swimming, Inc.
Opinion of the Court
MEMORANDUM DECISION AND ORDER
On May 27, 2015, all parties consented to having Chief United States Magistrate Judge Paul M. Warner conduct all proceedings in the case, including entry of final judgment, with appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.
BACKGROUND
This case involves Plaintiff; his former wife, Teresa Pliuskaitis (“Teresa”); and USA Swimming.
USA Swimming is a service organization of at least 350,000 members whose purpose is to promote the culture of swimming by creating opportunities for swimmers and coaches to participate and advance in the sport through clubs, events, and education.
Through the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act (“Sports Act”), 36 U.S.C. §§ 220501 to 220529, Congress created the United States Olympic Committee (“USOC”) to regulate amateur athletics
The USOC is responsible for selecting a National Governing Body (“NGB”) for each amateur sport. Id. § 220521(a). The USOC recognizes USA Swimming as the NGB for the sport of swimming in the United States.
In January 2012, during the pendency of Plaintiff and Teresa’s divorce, Plaintiff alleges that Teresa sent an anonymous report to USA Swimming informing the organization that Plaintiff had engaged in an inappropriate sexual relationship with a minor athlete (“V.M.”).
Based upon Teresa’s report, USA Swimming filed a Petition with the National Board of Review (“NBOR”) alleging that Plaintiff had violated various. sections of USA Swimming Code of Conduct (“Code”).
The NBOR conducted an evidentiary hearing on August 1, 2012.
Plaintiff then filed an initial Demand for Arbitration dated July 22, 2013, and an Amended Demand for Arbitration dated January 10, 2014.
The arbitration hearing took place on March 6-7, 2014.
On March 27, 2014, USA Swimming removed Plaintiffs name from its list of permanently banned individuals on its website.
In his Amended Complaint, Plaintiff asserts the following six claims against USA Swimming: defamation, breach of duty, violation of Sports Act, breach of contract, breach of good faith and fair dealing, and tortious interference.
In response to Plaintiffs lawsuit, USA Swimming filed the instant motion to dismiss and, in the alternative, a motion for summary judgment.
STANDARD OF REVIEW
USA Swimming moves this court to dismiss Plaintiffs complaint under Rules 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6) or, in the alternative, under Rule 56(c). However, because the court resolves USA Swimming’s motion to dismiss under Rules 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6), it is unnecessary for the court to address its alternative motion for summary judgment.
Under Rule 12(b)(1), the court may dismiss a claim for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. “Subject-matter jurisdiction involves a court’s authority to hear a given type of case” and the party invoking federal jurisdiction bears the burden of establishing that the court has subject matter jurisdiction. Radil v. Sanborn W. Camps, Inc., 384 F.3d 1220, 1224 (10th Cir. 2004). Federal courts, unlike state courts, are courts of limited jurisdiction, possessing only that power authorized by the Constitution and by statute. Kokkonen v. Guardian Life Ins. Co. of Am., 511 U.S. 375, 377, 114 S.Ct. 1673, 128 L.Ed.2d 391 (1994).
Motions to dismiss pursuant to Rule 12(b)(1) take two forms. First, a party may attack the complaint facially. Holt v. United States, 46 F.3d 1000, 1002 (10th Cir. 1995). “In reviewing a facial attack on the complaint, a district court must accept
To survive a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6); “a complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to ‘state a claim for relief that is plausible on its face.’” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009) (quoting Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007)). A court should “assume the factual allegations are true and ask whether it is plausible that the plaintiff is entitled to relief.” Gallagher v. Shelton, 587 F.3d 1063, 1068 (10th Cir. 2009). “The court’s function on a Rule 12(b)(6) motion is not to weigh potential evidence that the parties might present at trial, but to assess whether the plaintiffs complaint alone is legally sufficient to state a claim for which relief may be granted.” Miller v. Glam, 948 F.2d 1562, 1565 (10th Cir. 1991). Thus, “the complaint must give the court reason to believe that this plaintiff has reasonable likelihood of mustering factual support for these claims.” Ridge at Red Hawk, LLC v. Schneider, 493 F.3d 1174, 1177 (10th Cir. 2007). “In evaluating a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss, a courts may consider not only the Complaint itself, but also attached exhibits, and documents incorporated into the Complaint by reference.” Smith v. United States, 561 F.3d 1090, 1098 (10th Cir. 2009) (citations omitted).
DISCUSSION
USA Swimming argues, that Plaintiffs claims are barred under the Sports Act on the grounds that (1) USA Swimming created extensive dispute resolution procedures for the grievances of its members as required of all NGBs by the Sports Act; (2) there is no private right of action under the Sports Act; and (3) the Sports Act preempts state-law claims related to eligibility. Alternatively, USA Swimming argues that Plaintiffs claims are subject to dismissal under res judicata and that the applicable statute of limitations bars Plaintiffs defamation claim.
In response, while Plaintiff recognizes that the Sports Act gives USA Swimming exclusive authority over the resolution of grievances regarding the eligibility of its members, Plaintiff contends that his state claims do not pertain to his eligibility, nor do they concern the United States’ participation in the Olympics, Paralympics, or Pan-American Games. Plaintiff further argues that USA Swimming failed to follow its own rules in determining his eligibility, and, as such, the Sports Act does not preempt his state-law claims against USA Swimming. He also asserts that because he could not bring all of his claims in arbitration, res judicata does not apply. Lastly, Plaintiff contends that he timely filed his defamation claim and therefore it is not barred by the statute of limitations. The court will address each of the parties’ arguments in turn.
I. Rule 12(b)(1) Motion to Dismiss
A. Sports Act
Through the Sports Act, Congress granted the USOC and its NGBs exclusive
While the Sports Act specifically provides that the USOC (and thus its NGBs like USA Swimming) may sue and be sued in federal court, it also expressly negates the establishment of a private right of action. Id. § 220505(b)(9) (“[Neither-this paragraph nor any other provision of [the Sports Act] shall create a private right of action under this chapter....”). Thus, as noted in Lee v. U.S. Taekwondo Union, 331 F.Supp.2d 1252 (D. Haw. 2004), “the USOC may be sued only with respect to matters not arising under the Amateur Sports Act,- such as, for example, with respect to a dispute over a lease that .the USOC may have signed with the landlord of its offices.” Id. at 1257. Accordingly, the question is whether Plaintiffs claims against USA Swimming arise under the Sports Act.
In Slaney v. International Amateur Athletic Federation,- 244 F.3d 580 (7th Cir. 2001), the plaintiff, athlete Mary Decker Slaney, had tested positive for a prohibited substance after participating in the Olympic track and field trials. Id. at 586. After exhausting her administrative remedies, Slaney filed suit in federal court claiming that she suffered damages by the “unlawful manner in which the USOC conducts its doping program.” Id. at 596. The Seventh Circuit, however, affirmed the dismissal of Slaney’s state-law claims for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. Id. In particular, . the court stated, “Slaney cannot escape the fact that her state-law claims, whether framed as breach of contract, negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, fraud, constructive fraud, or negligent misrepresentation, are actually challenges to the method by -which the USOC determines eligibility of athletes,” and thus are preempted by the Sports Act. Id. Additionally, the court noted thát Slaney’s complaint avoided “any mention of the fact that her damages arise from the USOC’s determination regarding her eligibility,” which the court assumed was Slaney’s tacit acknowledgment that the USOC has exclusive jurisdiction to, determine all. eligibility matters, including those set forth in her state-law claims. Id.
Similarly, in Cantrell v. United States Soccer Federation, 924 P.2d 789 (Okla. App. 1996), a suspended youth soccer coach alleged that the NGB for the sport of soccer conducted a hearing in . violation of its rules and regulations. Id. at 790. Cantrell brought claims for breach of contract and tortious interference with rights. Id. In affirming the trial court’s dismissal of his action, the court stated: “Although Cantrell purports to assert his claims in tort, it is clear from reading his Petition as a whole that he effectively seeks a further appeal of the administrative determinations made by Appellees under the authority of the [Sports] Act.... [He] does not allege separate tortious acts which are outside the scope of that ' administrative scheme.” Id. at 792.
Likewise, the court in Graham v. United States Anti-Doping Agency, No. 5:10-CV-194-F, 2011 WL 1261321 (E.D. N.C. Mar. 31,2011), stated the following:
[Although Graham has labeled his claims as violations under the Constitution and the state law of slander, his claim undoubtedly challenges his eligibility to participate as a coach to amateur*1225 Olympic athletes. As eligibility determinations fall within the exclusive parameters of the Amateur Sports Act, this court lacks jurisdiction to hear Graham’s claims.
Id. *5.
Like Slamy, Cantrell, and Graham, each of Plaintiffs claims at their core challenges USA Swimming’s revocation of his eligibility to coach. While Plaintiff did not move to modify the Arbitrator’s ruling, Plaintiff essentially seeks further appeal of the determinations made in the administrative process.
Courts intervening in eligibility determinations have uniformly determined that judicial intervention should occur only in extremely limited circumstances. For instance, the court in Harding v. United States Figure Skating Association, 851 F.Supp. 1476 (D. Or. 1994), prohibited the U.S. Figure Skating Association (“USF-' SA”) from conducting a disciplinary hearing against Harding because it had breached its own rules in the process. Id. at 1479. Although the USFSA bylaws require that it hold disciplinary hearings on a mutually convenient date for all parties, USFSA scheduled Harding’s hearing with very short notice to her. Id. The court intervened and concluded that by setting the hearing without providing Harding sufficient time to prepare a defense, USFSA breached its own bylaws. Id. The court noted that this was “one of those rare cases where judicial intervention was appropriate.” Id. The court further explained that
courts should rightly hesitate before intervening in disciplinary hearings held by private associations, including the defendant [USFSA]. Intervention is appro-? priate only in the most extraordinary circumstances, where the association has clearly breached its own rules, that breach will imminently result in serious and irreparable harm to the plaintiff, and the plaintiff has exhausted all internal remedies. Even then, injunctive re? lief is limited to correcting the breach of the rules. The court should not intervene in the merits of the underlying dispute.
Id. Thus, because it was- evident that the USFSA had breached its own bylaws that hearings be “reasonably convenient for all parties” and Harding would imminently suffer serious and irreparable harm, the court' enjoined USFSA from holding the disciplinary hearing until a later'date. Id.
.Likewise, in Lee, the plaintiff, a coach for the United States Olympic Taekwondo Team, lost his. coaching job, Lee, 331 F.Supp.2d at 1254. Two weeks prior to the 2004 Summer Olympics, Lee filed suit in federal court seeking reinstatement and damages arguing that he was fired because he was of Korean descent. Id. In addition to his discrimination claim under 42 U.S.C, § 1981, Lee brought state-law claims for ultra vires activity, breach of contract, breach of implied contract, and interference with contract. Id. at 1257, However, the court dismissed Lee’s state-law claims because they “essentially seek reinstatement of Lee as the coach of the 2004 United States Olympic Taekwondo Team.... [and] are therefore akin to a challenge to eligibility determinations under the Amateur Sports Act.” Id. at 1257. However, the court did not dismiss Lee’s 42 U.S.C.' § 1981 claim, concluding that the Sports Act “does not nullify or supersede other federal laws that provide private rights of action to ensure ’ freedom from discrimination.” Id. at 1260 (emphasis added). Thus, the Lee court made a distinction between claims arising under federal anti-discrimination statutes and state-law claims addressing eligibility.
Similarly, in Shepherd v. U.S. Olympic Committee, 464 F.Supp.2d 1072 (D. Colo. 2006), the plaintiff, a wheelchair athlete, brought suit under the Rehabilitation Act
In the instant case, Plaintiff attempts to tailor his complaint to fit within the framework of Harding, Lee, and Shepherd. Like Harding, Plaintiff asserts that USA Swimming breached its own rules in determining his eligibility to coach. However, Plaintiff provides only vague and conclusory allegations regarding USA Swimming’s alleged breach, which are not sufficient to establish this court’s jurisdiction. Plaintiff has not set forth the specific rules that USA Swimming allegedly breached; rather, Plaintiff simply disagrees with USA Swimming’s determination regarding his eligibility. Furthermore, even assuming Plaintiff had identified specific rules, he has not demonstrated that USA Swimming’s alleged breach will imminently result in serious and irreparable harm to him.
Moreover, Plaintiff argues that his claims are akin to those asserted in Lee and Shepherd and therefore fall outside the exclusive authority given to USA Swimming. However, the courts in Lee and Shepherd determined that the Sports Act does not preempt federal statutes prohibiting race and disability discrimination. Both courts held that the Sports Act does not preempt a separate federal law “where the two statutes may be reconciled.” See Shepherd, 464 F.Supp.2d at 1088. Here, by contrast, Plaintiff does not assert any claim or right under any federal statute other than the Sports Act; his claims all arise from state law. The Lee court held that the Sports Act preempted Lee’s state law claims for ultra vires, breach of contract, breach of implied contract, and interference with contract because the claims “sound in state law” and “challenge the method by which Lee was removed as coach and another person was named as coach.... [Accordingly,] Lee has no right to bring such a challenge in court.” Lee, 331 F.Supp.2d at 1257. Like Lee, Plaintiff’s claims sound in state law and challenge USA Swimming’s determination regarding Plaintiff’s eligibility to coach. Thus, Plaintiffs reliance upon Lee is misplaced as it actually supports the dismissal of Plaintiffs complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.
Plaintiffs contention that the Sports Act does not preempt his claims because he seeks damages is also without merit. Other courts have dismissed similar state-law damage claims for lack of jurisdiction pursuant to the Sports Act. See Slaney, 244 F.3d at 596 (dismissing the plaintiffs damage claims for breach of contract, negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, fraud, constructive fraud, and negligent misrepresentation); Graham, 2011 WL 1261321, at *1 (dismissing damages claim for slander); Lee, 331 F.Supp.2d at 1257 (dismissing damage claims for breach of contract
Based on the foregoing, this court concludes that Plaintiff is not entitled to a judicial remedy for his state-law claims. To rule otherwise would conflict with, and frustrate, Congress’ intent that the Sports Act gives exclusive jurisdiction over eligibility issues to the USOC and NGBs. See Barnes, 862 F.Supp. at 1544 (“Congress made clear choices to keep disputes regarding the eligibility of amateur athletes to compete out of the federal courts.”). Allowing coaches or athletes to litigate eligibility in court under the common law of each state would likewise conflict with a principal purpose of the Sports Act: establishing uniform eligibility standards and a comprehensive mechanism for the prompt resolution of disputes outside the judicial process. See Walton-Floyd v. United States Olympic Comm., 965 S.W.2d 35, 40 (Tex. App. 1998) (“To hold a common law duty exists outside the scope of the [Sports] Act, thereby enabling an individual athlete to bring suit, threatens to override the intent of Congress and open the door to inconsistent interpretations of the [Sports] Act.”). Plaintiffs claims are exactly the type that the Sports Act was designed to address though the rules and regulations set forth by the NGBs of each amateur sport. Accordingly, this court concludes that Plaintiffs claims for breach of duty, breach of contract, breach of good faith and fair dealing, and tortious interference go to the heart of his eligibility to coach and are thus preempted by the Sports Act.
II. Rule 12(b)(6) Motion to Dismiss
A. Res Judicata
In the alternative, this court concludes that Plaintiffs claims are barred by the doctrine of res judicata. In the Tenth Circuit, res judicata or claim preclusion applies when three elements exist: (1) a final judgment on the merits in a prior action; (2) identity of the parties in the two suits; and (3) identity of. the cause of action in both suits. Wilkes v. Wyo. Dep’t of Employment Div. of Labor Standards, 314 F.3d 501, 504 (10th Cir. 2003). If these elements are satisfied, res judicata is proper unless the party seeking to avoid preclusion did not have a “full and fair opportunity” to litigate the claim in the previous action. Yapp v. Excel Corp., 186 F.3d 1222, 1226 n.4 (10th Cir. 1999).
As conceded by Plaintiff, the first two elements of claim preclusion are met: (1) the Arbitrator’s award was a final judgment on the merits and (2) the parties are identical. Plaintiff argues that the third element has not been satisfied because the
This court concludes that Plaintiffs claims for breach of duty, breach of contract, breach of good faith and fair dealing, and tortious interference all relate to USA Swimming’s determination of his eligibility as a coach member of USA Swimming. As discussed above, like the plaintiff in Sla-ney, Plaintiff “cannot escape the fact that [his] state-law claims, whether framed as breach of contract, ... breach of fiduciary duty,” breach of good faith and fair dealing, or tortious interference, “are actually challenges to the method by which [USA Swimming] determines eligibility.” Slaney, 244 F.3d at 596; see also Lee, 331 F.Supp.2d at 1257 (dismissing the plaintiffs state-law claims for breach of contract and interference with contract because they “challenge the method by which Lee was removed as coach and another person was named as coach”); Graham, 2011 WL 1261321 at *5 (noting that although the plaintiff “labeled his claims as violations under the Constitution and the state law of slander, his claim undoubtedly challenges his eligibility to participate as a coach to amateur Olympic athletes”).
Because Plaintiffs claims in this case arise out of “the same transaction, or series of connected transactions” as his claims asserted in arbitration, they are barred by the doctrine of res judicata. Yapp, 186 F.3d at 1227. Furthermore, Plaintiff had a full and fair opportunity to resolve his claims in arbitration. He simply disagrees with the Arbitrator’s decision not to award damages to him.
B. Defamation
Plaintiff alleges that on February 15, 2013, USA Swimming published a false statement on its website that Plaintiff was banned for life from coaching swimming, in part, because he used drugs in an athlete’s presence. USA Swimming acknowledged that there was a clerical error with regard to the citation to that Code Section. After arbitration, USA Swimming removed Plaintiff from the Banned for Life List on its website on March 27, 2014. On March 25, 2015, Plaintiff brought the instant lawsuit, alleging that USA Swimming defamed him by citing to that incorrect Code Section.
The parties agree that under Utah law, a claim for defamation must be brought within one year. Utah Code Ann. § 78B-2-302 (“An action may be brought within one year ... for libel [or] slander.”). In defamation cases, the one-year statute of limitations does not begin to run until the defamatory statement “is known or is reasonably discoverable by the plaintiff.” Allen v. Ortez, 802 P.2d 1307, 1314 (Utah 1990). Plaintiff argues that the continuing tort doctrine tolied the statute of limitations for his defamation claim. See Bingham v. Roosevelt City Corp., 2010 UT 37, ¶ 56, 235 P.3d 730 (“The continuing tort doctrine ... [tolls] the statute of limitations while the tortious conduct continues unabated.”). The court disagrees.
In Utah, where an allegedly defamatory statement is published in a manner widely available to the public, the one-year statute begins to run on the date of first publication. See Russell v. Standard Corp., 898 P.2d 263, 264 (Utah 1995). Under what is known as the “single publication rule,.... the aggregate communication can give rise to only one cause of action in the jurisdiction where the dissemination occurred, and result in only one statute of limitations period that runs from
Thus, in the instant case, the one-year statute of limitations began to run in February 2013 and it expired in February 2014. Because Plaintiff did not file suit until March 25, 2015, his defamation claim was not filed until over one year after the statute of limitations expired. Consequently, this court concludes that Plaintiff’s claim for defamation was untimely as he filed his complaint outside the one-year statute of limitations. As such, Plaintiffs defamation claim fails as a matter of law.
CONCLUSION
Based on the foregoing, USA Swimming’s motion to dismiss is GRANTED. Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that Plaintiffs Amended Complaint is dismissed in its entirety.
. Dkt. no. 23.
. Dkt. no. 24.
. While Plaintiff originally brought this action against both Teresa and USA Swimming, Teresa has since been dismissed from the case for lack of personal jurisdiction. Dkt. no. 43.
. Dkt. no. 3 at 2.
. Id.
. Dkt. no. 24 at 2.
. Id.
. Dkt. no. 24 at 2.
. Dkt. no. 3 at 3.
. Id.
. Dkt. no. 3 at 3-4; Dkt. no. 25 at 10.
. Dkt. no. 3 at 3-4; Dkt. no. 25 at 9.
. Dkt. no. 3 at 3-4; Dkt. no. 25 at 10.
. Dkt. no. 25 at 10,
. Dkt. no. 3 at 4; Dkt. no. 25 at 9.
. Dkt. no. 3 at 4; Dkt. no. 25 at 16.
. Dkt. no. 3 at 5; Dkt. no. 25 at 16.
. Dkt. no. 3 at 5; Dkt. no. 25 at 19.
. Dkt. no. 3 at 5; Dkt. no. 25 at 20.
. Dkt. no. 25 at 20.
. Dkt. no. 3 at 6.
. Id.
. Id.
. Id.
. Id. at 5.
. ' Dkt. no. 25 at 25-49.
. Id.
. Dkt. no. 25 at 49,
. Dkt. no. 24 at 11.
. Dkt. no. 25 at 57.
. Id. at 59.
. Id.
. Id. at 60.
. id.
. Dkt. no. 29 at 31; Dkt. no. 24 at 16.
. Dkt. no. 3.
.Id.
. Id.
. Dkt. no. 24.
. Id.
. Id.
. The Middle District of Tennessee recently issued a decision in a similar case. See Walker v. USA Swimming, Inc., No. 3:16-0825, 2017 WL 782970 (M.D. Tenn. Mar. 1, 2017). In Walker, the court denied the defendant’s .motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, concluding that the plaintiff had demonstrated that his case falls within the very narrow exception for judicial intervention in eligibility matters. Unlike Plaintiff’s Amended Complaint, in the petition to vacate the arbitration award in Walker, the plaintiff had veiy clearly alleged the rules and regulations that the arbitrator failed to follow, specifically citing to a due process checklist. While this court is not bound by the decision from a district court in Tennessee, the instant case is distinguishable from Walker, as noted above.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Michael PLIUSKAITIS, an individual v. USA SWIMMING, INC. a foreign corporation, Teresa Pliuskaitis, an individual
- Cited By
- 4 cases
- Status
- Published