Georgia High School Association v. Waddell

R. L. Osborne High School and Lithia Springs High School played a football game against each other. The winner of the game would go on to a playoff game. Osborne was winning the game. Lithia Springs was given a penalty, but the Georgia High School Association (GHSA) referee improperly issued the penalty, calling that Osborne had a fourth down instead of a first down. Lithia Springs went on to win the game. Osborne filed a written protest with the GHSA, which was denied, and Osborne’s appeal with the GHSA was also denied. Jim Waddell and other parents of Osborne’s football players (collectively, the parents) (plaintiffs) filed suit against the GHSA in a Georgia state court, asserting that they had a property right in the football game being played according to the rules, and the GHSA referee’s incorrect call violated the equal-protection clause and denied them their property rights. The trial court agreed, ordering that the playoff game that Lithia Springs was scheduled to play that night be canceled and that Lithia Springs and Osborne should play again, beginning at the point in the game that the referee had made the incorrect call. The GHSA filed a motion for supersedeas because of the impact the trial court’s order would have on the schedule for many of the other Georgia high school football playoff games. The court granted the motion suspending the trial court’s order pending further review.