October 2022 - Parks & Recreation - 32

LAW REVIEW
of the proceedings.
In her complaint, Viau had alThe
federal district court found " one could
reasonably conclude the City of Troy, Mercer, and Bo
knew of, approved of, or acquiesced in the alleged
wrongful conduct. "
had indeed objected to " discrimination
or segregation based on race
or national origin, " not " the violent
implications of playing a game
called Bomb the Country " :
Children were put into groups
and asked what country they were
from. A child said she was from
Argentina, so her group became
Argentina.
Another was from
America, so that group became
America and so forth.
While a portion of Viau's email
had criticized the violence implicit
in the game, taken in the light most
favorable to Viau, the court found
Viau also had expressed shock that
a government/city program would
group " the children based on their
national origin and race " in a game,
which encouraged children " to pretend
they are blowing up their own
country and other countries with a
soccer ball. "
Although Mercer claimed he
" was not aware " of the Bomb the
Country game until he reviewed
Viau's July 11, 2019 email, the
court found Viau should be allowed
to conduct discovery to obtain
relevant documents to test the
veracity and credibility of Mercer's
statements, in particular, his denial
of knowledge of segregation in the
soccer program.
Accordingly, given the reasonable
inference from Viau's allegations
that Mercer " knew of the practice,
approved of it and acquiesced in it, "
the federal district court held " summary
judgment in his favor is not
appropriate at this time. "
Recreation Department
Director
Similarly, the federal district court
reviewed allegations in Viau's
complaint to determine whether
summary judgment in favor of defendant
Bo, the City of Troy's recreation
department director, was
warranted at this preliminary stage
32 Parks & Recreation | O CTOBER 2 0 22 | PARK S ANDRECRE AT ION . OR G
leged that Bo had responded, " good
to know, " when she notified him
that children had been segregated by
race or ethnicity. As characterized
by the court, Bo's response " may
merely reflect a lack of professionalism
and sensitivity to Viau's feelings. "
On the other hand, the court
found " one could also reasonably
interpret it as being so callous that it
indicates Bo knew of, approved of,
or acquiesced in the alleged segregation
of children on the basis of race
and/or ethnicity. "
Accordingly, given the reasonable
inference from Viau's allegations
that Bo " knew of the practice, approved
of it and acquiesced in it, "
the federal district court concluded
summary judgment in favor of Bo
was " not appropriate at this time. "
Full and Equal Enjoyment
Since K.V. had " still participated in
soccer camp activities each day of
the program, " the City Defendants
also had argued John Doe's alleged
conduct had not denied K.V. " the
full and equal enjoyment by K.V. of
the soccer camp " under federal and
analogous state law. Citing Supreme
Court precedent regarding the applicable
standard for evaluating
protected class discrimination under
the Equal Protection Clause of
the Fourteenth Amendment of the
United States Constitution, the federal
district rejected this argument:
[T]he City Defendants' argument
is precisely the type the United
States Supreme Court rejected
more than 65 years ago when it
summarily upheld the trial court's
holding
that
racial segregation
on busses violated the Fourteenth
Amendment's Equal Protection
October 2022 - Parks & Recreation

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