Sanctions Appealed in Welch Case : Jurisprudence: Southern Section challenges court order to pay $6,640 to Canyon High’s football coach and the William S. Hart school district.

Further complicating its ongoing legal battle with Canyon High football Coach Harry Welch, the Southern Section last week filed an appeal of sanctions levied against it last month.

On Sept. 18, Lancaster Superior Court Judge Haig Kehiayan ordered $5,290 paid to Welch and $1,350 to the William S. Hart Union High School District as a deterrent against the Southern Section bringing additional motions until its appeal is heard by the Second District Court of Appeals.

Kehiayan’s action was prompted by a request brought by the Southern Section to modify the existing preliminary injunction in the case. The judge called the motion “frivolous and in bad faith.”

Although payment was to be made no later than 15 days following the judgment, the Southern Section instead filed its appeal of the sanctions.

Steve Tully, Welch’s attorney, said that Jeffrey Campasso, an associate at the law firm representing the Southern Section, informed him of the appeal last week.

Campasso did not return repeated phone calls.

Southern Section Commissioner Stan Thomas said that he had not been told of the appeal. “This is all in the hands of the attorneys now,” Thomas said.

In addition to the latest appeal, the Southern Section’s initial appeal of the preliminary injunction still must be heard. Tully said he expects a hearing on the first appeal within six to nine months, but is unsure when the newest appeal will be heard.

“We thought this matter would be put behind us,” Tully said. “Unfortunately, with the position the (Southern Section) is taking, it appears that we are still going to have to face further attacks and litigation on this issue.”

Ordered to pay the monetary sanctions were the California Interscholastic Federation, Southern Section, Thomas and the Southern Section’s legal counsel.

Welch’s problems began in June, 1991, when he received a one-year suspension from the Southern Section after an investigation into rules violations by members of the Canyon football program. Canyon was charged with conducting an illegal practice.

Welch received a temporary restraining order a month later to return to coaching, and he filed a civil lawsuit against the Southern Section. Further action on Welch’s suit is delayed pending the outcome of the appeals.