Citing sworn testimony from the plaintiff among several others, the defendants in the federal civil suit against the school district and some of its current and former coaches are asking the judge to end the case before it goes to trial.

In separate motions, attorneys representing Kingfi sher Public Schools, Jeff Myers, Micah Nall, Derek Patterson and Blake Eaton are seeking summary judgments from Judge Charles Goodwin.

In bringing the motion, the defendants are arguing that, based on what they allege are undisputed material facts, they are entitled to win the case “as a matter of law.”

A motion for summary judgment asks the judge to examine the pleadings and proof to determine if a trial is necessary.

The defendants say claims made by Mason Mecklenburg about a culture of hazing, bullying, torture and abuse within the KHS football program “fail as a matter of law and Coach Myers is entitled to summary adjudication on each of Plaintiff’s claims.”

Mecklenburg filed a civil suit against the district and the coaches in July 2021, a few months after graduating from Kingfisher High School.

Among the incidents alleged by Mecklenburg are being popped with a towel, tased, shot with a paintball gun, having his helmet urinated in and more serious sexual assault allegations such as “butt stamping” or “teabagging,” when he was held down by several players while another player put his genitals on his face.

Other allegations include Mecklenburg being bullied in practices and in the locker room and also being “singled out” with verbal abuse by coaches.

The lawsuit, which was moved from state to federal court and is now set for trial in December, alleges that coaches knew about, and in some instances, even condoned these incidents.

The lawsuit also alleged school administrators were informed of the incidents, but failed to take proper action to address them.

In their separate requests for summary judgment, defendants cite depositions testimony to argue many of the allegations were not reported by Mecklenburg or his parents until years later in some cases and that the sexual abuse was never reported prior to being alleged in the lawsuit.

The 37-page motion filed Wednesday on Myers’ behalf details the plaintiff’s allegations then counters them by citing sworn testimony of either Mecklenburg, his father Justin Mecklenburg, Myers or former Kingfisher Superintendent Dr. Daniel Craig.

The motion states that Mecklenburg testified in his deposition that coaches were not in the locker room when the alleged sexual abuse occurred.

“Plaintiff did not report this incident to anyone until after he graduated high school,” the motion then reads.

The motion also states coaches never witnessed the kind of towel popping that caused injuries or bruising because, according to Mecklenburg’s testimony, the players “knew not to gang up on you” when coaches were around.

Myers testified in deposition that coaches limited their time in the locker room - and especially the shower area - to respect players’ privacy, according to Myers’ motion.

The motion cites Mecklenburg’s deposition testimony that the more aggressive towel popping occurred in Mecklenburg’s first two years in the football program.

According to the testimony cited in the motion, Mecklenburg’s parents became aware of the towel popping in October or November 2018, and photographed the bruising on his neck and back.

Neither Mecklenburg nor his parents made Myers aware of the bruising or their concerns with “towel popping” until about a year later when they met with him on Oct. 25, 2019.

Myers’ motion also alleges the only photograph produced for discovery in the case was enhanced by the plaintiff’s mother and the original has not been produced.

In his testimony, Myers said that once he discussed the alleged bullying with the Mecklenburgs on Oct. 25, 2019, he reported the issues to then-Superintendent Jason Sternberger.

Testimony also stated that the only previous meetings with the family were concerning the plaintiff’s playing time in football games, according to the motion.

In a meeting with Craig, according to the motion, the family told the former superintendent they were prepared to file a lawsuit with “the best victims’ attorneys” and ready to contact state and national media. This “despite never reporting any of this alleged bullying contemporaneous with the alleged events,” according to the motion.

Testimony showed a taser was used to “shock” Mecklenburg and was done after practices ended, the motion says. It later states that once “another football player reported the use of this taser on students, Coach Myers confiscated the taser, and the tasing issue stopped.”

Multiple motions say there is some dispute about the removal of the taser.

The motion also references “The Ring,” in which players would allegedly challenge each other to wrestling/ boxing/mixed martial arts matches in the locker room.

“Coach Myers testified that he was aware the students would wrestle, but when he was told of the reference to ‘The Ring’ by the Superintendent, he ‘stopped it,’” according to the motion.

“He had not done anything previously to stop ‘The Ring’ because he was under the impression it was harmless wrestling among the players,” it states, referencing Myers’ testimony.

The plaintiff also has filed as part of his suit that he was bullied or hazed in incidents where he “felt Myers…single[ d] me out the most…” when yelling at players and was “pretty vulgar with his language” toward Mecklenburg.

There were also listed incidents of Mecklenburg being forced to be a “tee boy” at an away football game and being berated at halftime of that game though he was injured and could not play and also forced to ride the “freshman bus” to another away game when he was an upperclassman.

The motion uses testimony from Myers to dispute or counter the severity or intent of those claims.

In another incident, Myers is accused of throwing a ball at Mecklenburg’s testicles. The motion states that “per plaintiff’s testimony, this occurred when plaintiff was attempting to convince Coach Myers he could catch a ball despite being injured. Coach Myers’ intent was to show him catching the ball would be difficult and had no intent to cause him harm.”

“None of these ‘affirmative’ acts constitute a constitutional violation and cannot support a due process claim,” the motion states.

It later reads: “Simply put, Coach Myers did not ‘participate’ in any of the alleged bullying of which Plaintiff complains.”

Part of the motion’s argument is that under United States Code 42, Section 1983, those in Myers’ position are only liable for their own acts, not the acts of third parties.

Myers’ motion was filed by Joe E. White Jr., of White & Weddle P.C.

Patterson and Eaton are represented by Rosenstein, Fist & Ringold, the same firm representing the school district in the case.

Their motion was filed by Eric D. Janzen.

That 42-page filing denotes several of the same alleged incidents and notes the testimony by all the parties in relation to them.

This motion goes into more detail around the Oct. 25, 2019, meeting between Myers and the Mecklenburgs, which was recorded by Justin Mecklenburg and later transcribed and included in discovery.

Patterson and Eaton’s motion notes the 124-page transcript of the meeting, “…approximately the first 40 pages relate to the Mecklenburgs’ complaints of alleged bullying/harassment/ hazing, with the remaining 84 pages relating primarily to other complaints, mixed in with some discussion of the hazing issues.”

The “other complaints” centered around playing time for Mecklenburg, playing time that others received, Myers’ coaching style and the fact the coaches counted the ballots for homecoming court, the document states.

“Following the October 25, 2019, meeting, the Mecklenburgs made no further complaints regarding the alleged mistreatment of the Plaintiff for the remainder of his football career,” the motion reads and cites testimony from the plaintiff.

The motion also further details meetings between Justin Mecklenburg, Dan Craig and Jay Wood, who was the athletic director at the time, in early June 2021.

Craig had just been recently hired as Kingfisher’s superintendent at the time of the meeting.

The motion states Justin Mecklenburg aired some of the same grievances he did with Myers in the meeting in October 2019 and stated he wanted Myers to be fired.

It goes on to state Craig who had not met Myers at that time - began an investigation into the allegations with Wood’s help, according to Craig’s deposition testimony.

Craig interviewed players, parents, Myers, Patterson, Eaton, former KHS Principal Todd Overstreet, former football coach Stuart Purintun, Sternberger, former KPS Superintendent Max Thomas (then the superintendent at Chisholm Trail Technology Center), former Heritage Principal Shane Hood, Terry Payne (school board member) and Carly Franks (school board member), according to the motion.

Craig also reviewed personnel files of the relevant employees to determine if any documentation corroborated the claims. “None of the individuals interviewed by Craig in June of 2021 corroborated the allegations raised by Mr. Mecklenburg,” the motion says, while noting that all but one of the students alleged to have been involved (none of whom had been identified at the time) had already graduated.

Craig and the Mecklenburgs met for a second time, the motion states, and Craig relayed to them “that, while he was not saying the Plaintiff’s allegations were not true, neither could he corroborate them.”

That’s when, according to Craig’s testimony, Mecklenburg threatened to sue the school district.

Nall’s motion was filed by Mark S. Rains.

“Based on ‘qualified immunity,’ and because (Nall) did not violate any clearly established constitutional rights, all federal claims against Coach Nall should be dismissed,” his motion reads.

It states that testimony shows Nall had no knowledge of or had received no complaints about the alleged incidents regarding Mecklenburg, therefore was not compelled “to intercede.”

It states Mecklenburg testifi ed his major complaint of Nall was “across the board” vulgarity and cussing during practice at all players, including Mecklenburg.

“That and other conduct asserted against Coach Nall simply does not shock the conscious of the Court and therefore no State Created Danger claim can be shown,” the motion reads.

The plaintiff’s attorneys, which include Cameron Spradling as well as attorneys from the law firm of Nix Patterson LLP, will now have the opportunity to file a motion in response to each of the defendants’ motions.

Judge Goodwin will have the opportunity to schedule a hearing.

The court will then have several options:

• It can deny the summary judgments motion and the case will proceed as scheduled;

• It can grant the summary judgments and end the lawsuit;

• It can grant the summary judgment in parts and deny it in parts, which would dismiss some of the claims while others would continue to trial;

• It can also grant or partially grant or deny summary judgment for a specific plaintiff( s), but not for others.