Josh Fisher’s lawsuit against the Mercer Island High School district appears that it might go to court.
In a press release from the Mercer Island District given to The University News, the school district says that it has “referred the matter to our legal counsel and they are currently reviewing the case.” Mercer Island is located in King County, Wash. the same county as Seattle.
Fisher, a sophomore reserve guard on Saint Louis University men’s basketball team, filed court papers two weeks ago, suing his former high school. His court brief says that a Mercer Island counselor and teacher attempted to sabotage his academic standing at the high school, alleging that he had someone take his Scholastic Aptitude Test for him and that he “was not well known” for doing his homework.
Fisher is suing the school for defamation, false light, invasion of privacy, tort of outrage and a violation of civil rights, negligent hiring, retention and supervision, and damages.
The release states that the school district “will provide these employees (the counselor and teacher) with a legal defense.”
The only other comment from the school was that the school district “disagrees with the basis of the lawsuit.”
Under law, the school district has 30 days from Jan. 11 to respond to the lawsuit.
One of Fisher’s attorneys, Mark Leemon, said that the matter is “an outrageous situation.”
“These people are paid to help high school kids, but instead they hurt them; it seems unconscionable,” said Leemon.
Fisher filed a claim against Mercer Island in October of 1999. Fisher originally wished to settle the case out of court for $75,000 in damages in October 1999.
After he retained the services of Leemon and Brian Wax, Fisher then asked for $350,000 in damages in July 2000. The school board and Mercer Island’s insurance company rejected Fisher’s claim. As a result, Fisher filed a lawsuit in King County Superior Court.
“They formally denied his claim. They said that nobody did anything wrong and he wasn’t harmed,” Leemon said. “The school said that the counselor was well-intentioned and had good faith that she did everything right.”
Fisher, the Washington state 3A player of the year in 1999, signed a National Letter of Intent with Pepperdine University during his senior year of high school. But the brief states that the counselor and teacher spread false rumors about Fisher’s academic standing to officials at Pepperdine. As a result, Pepperdine put Fisher’s athletic scholarship on hold.
After a “score user” inquired about Fisher’s SAT score, the Educational Testing Service investigated the situation. It found that Fisher’s scores were valid.
In a letter to Fisher’s attorneys, the counselor wrote that she mentioned to an admissions person at Pepperdine that Fisher’s scores were “questionable” and that the “word on the street was that he might of (sic) had help. This was an `unsubstantiated’ rumor which I should not have repeated.”
Fisher asked to be released from his scholarship at Pepperdine. The school gave him a conditional release, meaning that he could transfer to another Division I school, but that he would lose two years of eligibility.
Fisher then transferred to SLU, where Pepperdine’s former coach, Lorenzo Romar, took over the program. According to Leemon, school officials said that the reason Fisher transferred was to follow Romar. But Leemon says that the reason Fisher came to SLU was because it was one of only a few schools that had a scholarship open.
“When Romar left Pepperdine, he said to the players under commitment to Pepperdine that following him was not an option,” Leemon said. “Romar said he did not want to start a conflict with them.”
After coming to SLU, Fisher appealed the two-year suspension to the NLI board. His request was denied but did get the ban lowered to one year.
Fisher is averaging 5.3 points per game and three assists per game in 18 games this season.
Some information in this article came from the Eastside Journal of King County and Mercer Island Reporter Newspapers.
