The Union Local School District Board of Education in Belmont County has agreed to pay $300,000 to settle a federal civil-rights lawsuit brought by resident Brent Gay against the district and football assistant coach Vaughn Butler, according to an announcement by The Chandra Law Firm, which represented Gay. The district also agreed to a federal-court consent judgment barring it from using a spectator policy the lawsuit challenged as unconstitutional, the firm said.
The case, Gay v. Union Local School District Board of Education, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, Case No. 2:25-cv-00652, according to The Chandra Law Firm. The settlement resolves claims under Section 1983 and the First and Fourteenth Amendments, along with state-law claims including assault and battery, the firm said.
The lawsuit stemmed from an Oct. 25, 2024, rivalry game between the Union Local Jets and the Barnesville Shamrocks at Barnesville High School, according to The Chandra Law Firm. With Union Local trailing 41-0 at halftime, Gay asked Butler a single question about whether he had watched film that week, the firm said, citing sworn statements from Gay and witnesses.
According to the lawsuit as described by The Chandra Law Firm, Butler then charged at Gay, shoved him and forced him to the ground, where Gay was kicked. Medical examinations documented facial lacerations, contusions and a likely rib fracture, the firm said. Butler admitted in a May 2026 deposition that his response came immediately after Gay’s comment criticizing his performance, according to The Chandra Law Firm.
As part of the settlement, the district consented to a court judgment barring use of its spectator policy, which the lawsuit said barred fans from booing or criticizing coaches, according to The Chandra Law Firm. A joint motion for the court to formally enter that judgment is pending, the firm said.
The firm also said the district was required to post a statement by Thursday, Oct. 29, saying in part that “physical violence has no place in how anyone resolves their differences” and that there is no place for violence in the school halls or stadium stands of Union Local Schools. Lead counsel Subodh Chandra said in The Chandra Law Firm’s announcement that citizens have a right to criticize public officials, including public-school coaches, without being assaulted or silenced.
For families in the Union Local district, which serves the Morristown area in Belmont County, the agreement closes the federal case and ends the challenged spectator policy. What happens next is the federal court’s entry of the consent judgment the two sides have asked it to approve.
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