Thomka claimed that she was denied equal access by the MIAA when she wasn't allowed to play in the 2005 individual boys championship.
Former Cathedral High School golfer Lindsey Thomka is seen at Franconia Golf Course in Springfield in 2007.NORTHAMPTON – Three justices from the state Appeals Court heard arguments in a half dozen cases out of Western Massachusetts and Worcester Wednesday including that of a student who wasn’t allowed to participate in a golf tournament because she is a girl.
The Appeals Court occasionally travels to hear cases. Wednesday’s session in the Hampshire County Courthouse was one of three scheduled appearances in Western Massachusetts this year. The court generally issues its rulings within 120 days. Taking the cases under advisement were Judges Joseph Trainor, Frederick Brown and Judd J. Carhart.
The sex discrimination case involved a civil suit filed against the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association by a former Cathedral High School girl who played on the school’s golf team. Lindsey L. Thomka claimed that she was denied equal access to sports competition when the association ruled that she could not take part in a 2005 golf tournament with boys.
Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association rules require schools to provide equal sports opportunities for boys and girls. Because Cathedral did not have a girls’ golf team, Thomka played on the boys’ team. That team failed to qualify for a tournament, but Thomka argued that she should have been allowed to play in a separate tournament in which players qualified individually. Thomka, who did qualify, would have been the only girl in the tournament, but the association said she could not play because, as a girl, she hit from a shorter tee.
Superior Court Judge C. Brian McDonald found in Thomka’s favor in the case, ruling that the association discriminated against her because of her gender. He also ordered the association to pay $19,100 in attorney’s fees for the plaintiff. Thomas A. Kenefick III, who has not yet been paid because of the appeal, told the justices that McDonald’s ruling was the right one. Geoffrey R. Bok, representing the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association, insisted that Thomka had separate but equal opportunities as a golfer.
“If her team had qualified, she would have played in the team competition,” he said.
Brown suggested that the association would be better served sorting out its own rules with aggrieved parties than deciding them in court.
“You’ve got a problem,” he said. “Why can’t people sit down and work things out?”
In another case, the judges heard an appeal of a 2007 criminal matter in which a defendant who pleaded guilty to larceny argued that police had no grounds to stop and search him prior to his arrest.
The criminal case involving Angel Colon ended with Colon pleading guilty to breaking and entering in the daytime to commit a felony and larceny over $250. Colon was accused of stealing a laptop computer from a home in South Hadley.
On the day of the incident, a South Hadley police officer twice stopped Colon in the area to speak with him. On the second occasion, Colon agreed to show the officer the contents of his backpack, the laptop. Both times, Colon was allowed to leave. After the second stop, however, police learned of the reported break-in and arrested Colon.
Attorney Daniel Ciccariello, who is handling the appeal on behalf of Colon, argued that the Eastern Hampshire District Court judge erred by denying a motion filed by Richard A. Habhab, the original defense attorney, to keep the evidence resulting from the search from being used during the trial.
“The only reason he was stopped (by police) was that he was ‘out of place,’” Ciccariello said.
But Carhart suggested that police have some latitude in questioning people, especially, as in Colon’s case, when he is seen with a backpack he didn’t have the first time.
“Wouldn’t you want your police officer to do that?,” he asked.
Brown asked Ciccariello how he planned to get around the fact that his client pleaded guilty.
“What cases are you citing?,” he asked. “You’re relying on me.”
Northwestern Assistant District Attorney Cynthia Pepyne told the justices that Colon’s encounters with police that day did not rise to the level of a stop and seizure.
“The police did exactly what we expect them to do,” she argued. “The search was consensual. It was low-key and relaxed.”