IHSAA Contract - Avoiding Indy Court Mandate

Previously I detailed the contractual provision in the IHSAA "Consent & Release Certificate" really a contract that forces any lawsuit between an athlete and IHSAA to be heard in Marion County (Indy). The location of a court is called venue. It's kind of like jurisdiction, but not at all. The difference is confusing to keep us regulars guessing.

For any skeptics and those not concerned, let's look at an example.

            tl;dr Skip to the bottom for directions on how I believe you can avoid automatic transfer to Indy. 

Landon Grimes v. IHSAA 

Background
Grimes attended Jay County High School. He began to suffer serious health issues and was diagnosed with conversion disorder. At one point he was paralyzed for a few weeks. It was related to his brothers being in jail from drug charges, and his coach worked at the jail so Landon would try to keep tabs on them.
Landon then transferred to Blackford. Jay County (rival school) didn't agree to a full waiver on Grimes transfer which forces IHSAA to make an eligibility determination. IHSAA after exhaustive hearing determined that he should have limited eligibility. So Landon's mother filed suit on his behalf (as he was a minor at the time).

Grimes' lawsuit was first filed November 2019 in Blackford County Circuit Court as 05C01-1911-PL-000387. After IHSAA appeared, they made a few filings then moved for...

Yep, transfer to Marion County.

And what was IHSAA's core argument for transfer? Here's the filing...

Yep, both Grimes and his mother signed that contract that every other parent signs. Notice that IHSAA argued that both of them signed it twice and included copies!!

So of course the court ruled for IHSAA and transferred it to Indy as 49D10-2001-PL-004191. The kicker is that Grimes had to pay for the transfer, thankfully not for IHSAA attorney fees that were requested, but they paid their own attorney for a hearing and filings related to the transfer to Indy.

After transfer on January 29, 2020, the case was dismissed on February 5, 2020 (likely the parties settled). So what was the point of the transfer? Just to be annoying? Just to make Grimes pay a little money first? Just to ensure preferred venue for IHSAA if it went further? I would guess Grimes' attorney probably advised them that they would no longer be able to assist them as well in an unfamiliar court and suggested that they settle.

Consider Amending the Contract

So yes, that venue provision does matter if you have a high school athlete in Indiana. So what should you do about it? Well, I am not an attorney (so ask one if you want to be sure), but here's one of my daughter's contracts with the provision crossed out and initialed, just like every other year. One year I actually disclosed my legal interactions with Marion County as to why I would never consent.

You have to appreciate that I apparently didn't consent to the prior lawsuit given that an "Entire Agreement" was never executed. But Judge Welch wasn't concerned about that.