From Cruce v. Berkeley County School Dist., decided Wednesday by the South Carolina Supreme Court, in an opinion by Justice Hill:
Petitioner Jeffrey L. Cruce became the head football coach and athletic director for Berkeley High School in 2011. For the 2015 season, he adopted a controversial "no punt" offensive scheme for the football team. This strategy stirred intense debate among followers of the team and was covered in local and even national sports pages. The controversy deepened as the team suffered lopsided defeats. In December 2015, the Deputy Superintendent of the Berkeley County School District (the District) sent Cruce a letter advising him he was being relieved as coach and athletic director and reassigned to a position as a middle school guidance counselor because he had failed to meet certain performance goals….
On January 7, 2016, Berkeley High athletic trainer Chris Stevens sent an email to forty-five people, including administrators, athletic department employees, and volunteer coaches, questioning the integrity and completeness of student athlete files Cruce had maintained. In the email, Stevens remarked the filing issues were a potential "liability" to the District….
Cruce sued and was awarded $200K in actual damages; the District appealed, and the S.C. intermediate appellate court concluded that "Cruce was a public official for purposes of defamation law and the District was therefore entitled to immunity because § 15-78-60(17) of the South Carolina Tort Claims Act (2005) (SCTCA) immunizes the District from losses caused by employee conduct amounting to 'actual malice.'" (If Cruce were a public official, then First Amendment libel law would bar him from recovering in the absence of "actual malice," and South Carolina government tort immunity law would bar him from recovering from the government if "actual malice" was shown.) No, said the S.C. supreme court:
