Basketball star loses lawsuit

Josh Fisher, a Mercer Island High School graduate and the 1998-99 state 3A basketball player of the year, has lost a civil suit that claimed his school counselor defamed his reputation and damaged his college basketball career when she passed along rumors that he had cheated on a college-entrance exam.

A civilian jury at the Regional Justice Center in Kent returned with a 10-2 verdict against Fisher on Friday. The jury deliberated 2-½ hours and agreed that passing along rumors, even if they were unsubstantiated, is part of a "qualified privilege" afforded to school counselors like Alice Tanaka.

Fisher had sought hundreds of thousands of dollars in emotional-hardship damages.

"If school counselors had to face being sued every time they passed along a rumor, it would have a chilling effect on counselors passing along important information in the school business, like rumors about school shootings," said Jerry Moberg, the school district's attorney.

But Fisher's attorney, Kathy Goater, maintained that Tanaka went beyond her duties.

"She exaggerated and embellished and communicated the rumor so strongly, and made it into an assertion of fact," Goater said.

The controversy started during Fisher's senior year in high school, when he took his SAT for the second time. Fisher scored 980 out of a possible 1600, a jump of about 200 points from his previous attempt.

Fisher needed the higher score to qualify for a full basketball scholarship to Pepperdine University in California.

Tanaka became suspicious of the increase and reported it to ETS, the company that administers the SAT. She told ETS officials there were widespread rumors at the school that Fisher hadn't taken his own test and often struggled with his schoolwork. She reported the same thing to a Pepperdine admissions officer.

During the four-week trial, Tanaka said she often uses "qualified privilege" to discuss the backgrounds of certain students with prospective admissions officers. She also said that ETS encourages school officials to report suspicious results.

Pepperdine withheld its scholarship until investigations by Mercer Island and the SAT administrators cleared Fisher. But Fisher, now 21, claimed the constant questions about his character had forced him to find another school. He eventually enrolled at Saint Louis University in Missouri.

Goater said Tanaka had opportunities to investigate the rumors about Fisher before she contacted Pepperdine. That made her actions "reckless," Goater said, which is one of the primary requirements for defamation suits.

"There shouldn't be the ability for one counselor to potentially ruin a student's future," Goater said. "The student ought to have some due process. Her job was to help him realize his dreams. That's not what she was doing."

Moberg said the complaints against Tanaka gave Fisher an easy way out of his commitment to Pepperdine so he could follow the coach who recruited him.

Fisher was recruited to Pepperdine by Lorenzo Romar, who quit before Fisher had a chance to enroll. Romar then coached at Saint Louis before becoming head coach this year at the University of Washington.

Michael Ko: 206-515-5653 or mko@seattletimes.com.