Trash-talking parents who take their frustrations out on their kids' coaches don't have legal protection to make false claims according to the Minnesota Supreme Court.
The groundbreaking ruling says coaches are not public officials, so thereby have a lower bar to clear in order to prove their case in court.
The case involved former Woodbury High School girls' basketball coach Nathan McGuire, who filed a defamation lawsuit against parents who made false accusations against him.
"He's a kindergarten teacher. And they filed a complaint with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights claiming that he shouldn't even be teaching. That investigation was conducted. It was found to not have any merit whatsoever, but to see parents go to that extent was really troubling," McGuire's attorney Donald Chance Mark Jr. told WCCO-TV.
The decision reinstates McGuire’s defamation case against one of the parents who criticized him while he was coach.
Executive Director of the Minnesota High School Coaches Association John Schumacher says he's pleased with the ruling.
"It gives our coaches some protection if they want to go for a defamation or a slander lawsuit against a parent for wrongfully accusing them. It gives them a path to defend their name and what they've done," says Schumacher.
McGuire lost his job in 2014 when the district decided not to renew his contract.