[Bryson Gordon](https://newsadvance.com/users/profile/Bryson%20Gordon)
The family of former Brookville High great and NFL tight end Logan Thomas is suing the Virginia High School League, seeking to challenge a decision that has sidelined two of Thomas' stepsons throughout an eligibility dispute.
Logan and Brandie Thomas filed suit on behalf of Thomas' two oldest stepsons who play for Brookville, who were unnamed in the court documents due to being minors, in the Campbell County Circuit Court on Wednesday, asking for a judgement to void a decision by the VHSL that has sidelined them the last two games and issue an injunction allowing them to return to the field.
A hearing on the matter is scheduled for Friday at 3:30 p.m. in the Lynchburg Circuit Court, hours before the Bees host Liberty High School at 7 p.m.
"VHSL has been informed of the lawsuit. As a matter of policy, VHSL does not comment upon pending legal action," the league told The News & Advance.
"We feel really good about our case," said Andrew Gay, one of the two attorneys representing the Thomas family.
In the lawsuit, the Thomas family accuses the high school league of making a decision that is "in derogation of its own VHSL handbook that wrongfully found" the brothers ineligible to play for Brookville.
Freshman Carter Thomas-Underwood, the youngest of the three sons who are on the Brookville squad, has played during the multi-week dispute over the transfer eligibility of the brothers as recently as last Friday's game against Heritage at City Stadium.
The dispute stems from the Thomas family's move from California back to Lynchburg in January upon Logan Thomas' retirement from NFL, records show. The oldest brothers, along with three younger siblings, were all enrolled in Campbell County Public Schools, and Brookville principal Christine White deemed the oldest brothers eligible to participate in athletics in January.
In August, the Thomas family alleges that newly-named VHSL executive director Ty Gafford reached out to a non-athletics staff member at Brookville High to inquire about Thomas and his oldest children.
White later made a call to the VHSL to ask why her staff member was being contacted by the league, court documents show, setting off a chain of calls and emails where the VHSL requested additional information regarding the brothers' residency and eligibility.
Per the VHSL's rule book entry on the Master Eligibility List in section 27-8-6 (Page 42), all decisions regarding eligibility come directly from the building principal.
On Aug. 29, VHSL assistant director Todd Tarkenton indicated concerns to White that her decision was incorrect "because the Plaintiff's family owned more than one house and as a result, did not reside within the Brookville attendance area," lawyers for the Thomas family wrote in the suit.
Tarkenton wrote in an email that the Thomas family used "shared housing documentation," implying that it was a temporary move. The address listed in court documents as the primary residence for the oldest two brothers is within the Brookville attendance zone.
White, after the correspondence with Tarkenton, continued to find the oldest brothers eligible and allowed them to suit up over the next three weeks as the Bees started out 3-1.
The VHSL checked in again with White on Sept. 22, documents show, this time asserting the brothers had violated the league's transfer rules by coming from California to Virginia, as opposed to the previous residency concerns, documents show. Two days later, White reaffirmed their eligibility.
"At no point have \[the brothers\] violated the VHSL Handbook's Transfer Rule," the lawsuit says.
Between the final reaffirmation and Brookville's game on Sept. 26 at Amherst County, there was no correspondence between the school or league, and Campbell County Public Schools Superintendent Clay Stanley called Gafford at the league on the afternoon of the game for clarification, records show.
Stanley ended the call under the assumption the two oldest brothers were ineligible, and they were held out of that game against Amherst.
Brookville had a bye week from Sept. 26 until early October, and returned to the field against Heritage on Friday night with just one brother playing. All three brothers served as team captains, and the full Bees roster stood with arms locked behind them during the coin toss.
The Thomas family claims it was given no due process in the decision to make the two brothers ineligible. They accused the VHSL of "going rogue" and leaving the school and family to "guess as the next step."
In between those games, on Oct. 9, the VHSL convened a Seminole District Committee meeting in response to the family's requests. On Oct. 10, the district committee released a decision declaring the brothers ineligible based on their lack of a basis for a transfer waiver, records show.
The family claims in court documents that it was "baited" into appealing the Sept. 26 "decision" by Gafford to rule the players ineligible because they "saw no other option to address the VHSL's course of conduct that included subtle and ambiguous threats of punishment followed by silence and no official action."
The typical next step in the process after a district committee meeting would be an appeal to the VHSL Executive Committee within five working days, or Friday, Oct. 17. The family wrote in the lawsuit they still have not been given a chance to attend a hearing addressing "why the VHSL believes they are ineligible." They are also arguing for a denial of equal protection.
Preliminary records indicated Judge Frederick C. Watson would preside over the Friday afternoon hearing.