MHSTeCA's Claims Committee By-Laws

A committee has been established to offer a clear process for reaching resolutions for ethical and rule concerns. The committee expects to function professionally and collaboratively with all parties to preserve the guidelines of the MHSAA Coaches Rules Manual.

Overview

• Every year the MHSTeCA Board will vote five members and one alternate member to this committee.
• Each member will serve a one year term unless the Board votes to have them removed. Each member may serve multiple terms upon re-approval at each Summer Board meeting.
• The committee will nominate one of the five members to serve as the committee chair member.
• The committee chair will head the committee in all group procedures.
• The committee will nominate a secretary to facilitate tasks.
• All claims members will fulfill a joint role on the committee:
• Assist with solutions to ethical and rule concerns within a designated area.
• Upon request, assist the committee with any ethical rule concerns outside their area.
• The committee will publish to the MHSTeCA.org best practices for resolving stacking concerns.
• This resource shall be a guide of best practices with specific solutions involving stacking.
• The committee will publish a challenge match and dual match record form for coaches to keep records.

Process:

• The concerned party should contact their Athletic Director and/or the opposing coach to resolve a concern.
• If unsuccessful, the concerned party should contact the claims committee member in their area.
• The claims member will refer the concerned party to the best practices and/or recommend a course of action to best solve the concern. Upon request, the claims member may assist the concerned party with this course of action.
• The claims member will always notify the claims committee chair of any action, as well as any additional claims members as necessary.
  • Each individual claims member may:
• Upon request, mediate processes in a coaches meeting (seeding, ranked order, majority etc.)
• Gather scores and other pertinent information based on the concern
• Contact schools to gather additional information based on the concern
• Forward any collected information to the appropriate parties
• The original claims member will collaborate with the chair member and concerned party to gather evidence, review evidence, and notify or contact the appropriate parties
• The chair member will delegate tasks in the case to claims members as needed.
• Upon review, the party in question and the MHSAA will be given notice of the discovered findings from the original claims member or the chair member.
• The original claims member or chair member will then follow up with the appropriate party(s) within 72 hours of the initial notice to seek the outcome of the case.
• If the chair member decides the outcome does not meet the standards of the MHSAA rules and offer a fair and viable solution to the issue, the claims committee will take a vote of opinion.
• With a majority vote approval: the chair member will notify the MHSAA that; the party in question has not met compliance to the MHSAA rule standards with a fair and viable solution.

Additional Items:

• The committee and its members will handle every case in a timely manner.
• Based on the findings report, the MHSAA, State Seed Committee, and all involved parties will be notified.
• At every Board Meeting, the chair person will review all cases from the past season and propose any necessary procedural revisions based on the consensus of the claims members. If the chairperson cannot make the meeting they will assign a claims member to give the report.

1. Prior to the involvement of a claims member, the concerned party must make a documented effort to resolve the issue with the opposing party.  If the coaches, athletic directors, or league of the respected schools cannot resolve the issue, then a claims member may assist in the process.   

2. All concerns brought forward must include: a list of the schools involved, contact information for each, an outline of the issue(s), the rule in question, any documented information, and indication of an attempt to resolve the concern at the local level.

3. Upon receiving a case and gathering information, the merit of the case will be evaluated by the claims member and chair member.  If the claim is found to have merit, the accused party will be notified by the committee.  The accused will have 72 hours to resolve the concern conducive to MHSAA standards.

4. If it is found that the submitted case does not have merit, then that case will be dropped.

Ranked Order of Ability Claims and Responses:

1. The case must outline what flight(s) are out of order with all scores validating such claims.
2. The committee encourages including contact information of area coaches for lineup verification.  All information gathered in this process will be kept confidential and anonymous. 

This committee may only be utilized when situations cannot be resolved amongst coaches at the local level without the local claims member’s guidance.  This clearly defined process will warrant that schools participate fairly, professionally, and with good sportsmanship through competition in the spirit of the rules of high school tennis.