| Parents of a Needville Middle School sixth-grade student who wore a Hoover Dam T-shirt to class on April 29 filed suit Tuesday in the Fort Bend County County Clerk's Office against the school's principal, Otis "Buddy" Harr, and all seven Needville Independent School District trustees: Wayne Ley, Jan Black, Joseph Anderson, Mark Wendt, Jim Kocian, Brian Bacica and Mark Raska.
According to the lawsuit, the T-shirt in question, which states, "Somebody went to Hoover Dam, and all I got was this dam shirt," was purchased by the female student's parents when they visited Hoover Dam in April, and was worn to school by the girl on April 29.
Peter Riga, attorney for Mr. and Mrs. J.R. "Chubby" Mercer, the student's parents, said Wednesday morning his clients are seeking $10,000 per day for every day the student has missed school since.
The lawsuit states Harr ordered the girl to change shirts or leave school, and claims the T-shirt cannot be deemed offensive, lewd or vulgar because the Hoover Dam is "a national landmark protected by the Forest and Wildlife Service."
The suit further states the defendants' "personal animus toward the child was the true motivating factor in the actions taken by the defendants."
Attorney Chris Gilbert of the Bracewell & Patterson Law Firm of Houston, which represents NISD, said Tuesday, "The school simply told (the student) she could not wear the T-shirt."
He also said the first day she wore it to school, she brought another shirt with her, and when Harr told her to change shirts or go home, she changed shirts.
The following day, Gilbert said, she wore the Hoover Dam T-shirt again and was again instructed to go change shirts or go home.
J.R. "Chubby" Mercer said Tuesday he and his wife took her to school for six consecutive days following the first incident, and each time, Harr told them she could change shirts or go to in-school suspension. Each time, said Mercer, he took his daughter home.
"(ISS) is a form of discipline, and we weren't going to subject her to that," said Mercer. "We'll let her come to school as long as she can wear her T-shirt."
But Gilbert said the district believes the student was not disciplined, and "has done everything it can to keep her from missing school time. The parents chose to keep her home. She was simply told she could not wear the T-shirt."
"At best, it's an off-color joke," Gilbert said of the shirt, adding he needs to study the suit further "to figure out what they think it is we've done wrong. I'm not entirely sure what they're suing us for. It looks like a conspiracy thing."
Gilbert also said he expects to file an answer to the suit prior to the 20 days he has to do so.
In the meantime, Mercer said he filed a grievance with the Superintendent Gary Gazaway regarding Harr's refusal to let his daughter wear the T-shirt, and has not received a reply.
Gazaway said Tuesday he could not comment on the matter, other than to say trustees held a special meeting Monday to discuss the Level 2 grievance in closed session. He explained that Level 1 grievance is handled at the campus level, and a Level 2 grievance involves administration.
Gazaway said once trustees reconvened in open session Monday night, they voted unanimously to uphold Harr's decision.
But Mercer said in his motion to uphold the decision, Ley said the student intended to be disruptive and use profanity.
Mercer said that is not the case, and claimed he has copies of a book issued by the school for required reading for his daughter which contain the word "damned" and other "words of profanity."
Mercer also said in a televised interview, Gilbert "called me and my whole family a liar. He said we meant to use profanity by it (the T-shirt). They're gonna belly up to the bar sooner or later. Ain't nobody gonna go on TV and call me and my family a liar. It was never really personal until they did that. Now it's personal."
Gilbert said in Monday's meeting the Mercers claimed their daughter's First Amendment rights were violated, but that claim "is not mentioned in the lawsuit."
The suit suggests the student should be awarded "actual damages for every day that she was ridiculed by defendants' actions; awarded damages for every day that it continues jointly against all the defendants, both jointly and severally from their individuals states and resources;" and seeks awards of "reasonable and necessary attorney's fees, court costs and all expenses expended in the prosecution of the suit."
In addition, the suit states the Mercers would show it was the defendants' intent to "hold the plaintiffs up to contempt and ridicule before the residents of the community, thus entitling them to punitive damages and a permanent injunction forbidding defendants from repeating the acts complained of."
Riga said Wednesday his clients have "no intention of making the taxpayers" of NISD pay for the lawsuit, which is why the suit was filed against Harr and the trustees individually, and said he is going to file a motion "to find out why they're using the district's attorneys."
Riga said if the word "dam" on the T-shirt "had an 'n' behind it, you'd have an argument. It depends what you want to read into it."
He said trustees listened to his presentation at Monday's meeting and then retreated to closed session without hearing from the girl or her parents.
"I want to know how the school board, without a single shred of evidence, could conclude that his 12-year-old child wanted to be offensive and intended the word to be construed as a curse word," he said. "They just said, 'We want to talk to our lawyer' and went into closed session for 84 minutes ... which is not something you normally do in a meeting. What happened was, they went in the back, Mr. Gilbert told them how to rule and they ruled. It just wasn't handled correctly, and I guess they thought we were just a bunch of schmoes. But we filed on them nine hours later."
Riga said the way he worded the lawsuit, the court will have to rule on "the plain meaning of the word (dam)" on the T-shirt, and not what anyone believes may have been intended by its use.
"We asked for a simple ruling from the court to define Hoover Dam," he said. "If the court defines Hoover Dam to be in any way offensive, then we pack up and go home. But if it doesn't, then they lose."
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