Source: Orange County Register
Capistrano Unified Superintendent A. Woodrow Carter addresses the school board at a March meeting, just hours before trustees fired him.
SANTA ANA – An Orange County judge today tossed out a $487,425 breach-of-contract lawsuit filed by fired Capistrano Unified Superintendent A. Woodrow Carter asking to be paid for 18 months remaining on his three-year employment contract.
Superior Court Judge Steven Perk in Santa Ana said the former school district chief was not entitled to money under the terms of his contract. Carter was terminated in March in a unanimous school board vote.
"There is no provision in the contract for a buyout of 18 months of salary as severance," Perk said in a written decision. "The contract language is unambiguous."
Carter's lawsuit, filed in May, asked for $487,425 in damages, plus 10 percent interest and attorneys' fees.
While Perk dismissed the lawsuit, he granted Carter a 21-day window to revise and refile the lawsuit – known as a "leave to amend." Carter said Friday he hadn't decided whether to refile.
"My attorney and I have to talk about it again," he said.
The school board's attorney, Phillip Kossy, said it was common for judges to allow a plaintiff to refile in such cases.
"If we think it is still deficient, we will file another motion to dismiss," Kossy said. "If not, we will continue on with the case."
A trial date has been tentatively set for June 7, but the case would only go to trial if the judge reverses his decision based on an amended lawsuit.
The damages Carter sought were equal to half of his three-year, $974,850 contract, which was set to expire June 2011. Carter actually had two years and four months remaining on the contract, but state law prohibits him from seeking more than 18 months' compensation.
'Baffling' explanation
In his lawsuit, Carter had argued the terms of his contract, plus state law, allowed him to be paid for up to 18 months' compensation.
But Kossy, who characterized Carter's reasoning as "baffling," successfully argued that Carter was misinterpreting the law and that his contract called for no such buyout provision.
"Nowhere in the contract does it reference buyout or severance terms," Kossy said in court filings. "This fact is undeniable and dispositive. If it did contain a buyout term, the terms would be statutorily limited by (California Goverenment Code) Section 53260 – preventing plaintiff and defendant from negotiating more than a maximum of 18 months' severance."
Even before Carter was fired, his employment contract became a key issue of contention.
In spring 2008, shortly after the school board approved a permanent contract for him, Carter was accused of attempting to alter the contract by inserting a lucrative termination clause guaranteeing him 18 months' severance if fired.
The school board was forced to rescind the contract and approve a new one – without the clause. (Even so, Carter went on to claim in his lawsuit he was owed this 18 months of compensation.)
Later, after he was fired, the school district released a memo from Carter explaining how the contract was altered.
Carter said former board President Mike Darnold and a school board secretary inserted the clause because it was inadvertently omitted during the contract negotiations and Carter had "wanted" it from the beginning.
Tumultuous tenure
Carter, a retired Army colonel, was fired March 9 after a tumultuous, 18-month tenure at the helm of Orange County's second-largest school district.
Capistrano's school board released a scathing 54-page termination report that painted Carter as an insubordinate, scheming administrator who tried to sway school board elections and double-bill the district for travel expenses.
Carter also was accused of showing "disturbing disregard" for student confidentiality matters, violating school board policies and state laws and deliberately working to undermine and embarrass the school board.
Carter denied the allegations in a 23-page rebuttal.
The district, meanwhile, spent $66,758 in legal fees from December 2008 to February 2009 to fire Carter on March 9, according to invoices from the school board's law firm.
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