Local Schools threatened by litigation as pandemic fades

by Dan Blackburn

Carmel attorney Tracy Henderson has initiated legal action on behalf of Hermosa Beach parent Victoria Cannon, South Bay Parents Push Back and Santa Monica Malibu Parents United  against four Southern California school districts, and various other government officials. Several Hermosa Beach residents have alleged that Henerson has also threatened legal action against them.

One of those residents, Russ Gilbert, has responded by filing a complaint about Henderson with the California Bar.

Henderson filed a writ of mandate in January seeking relief for her clients from what she termed “illegal government mandates,” regarding COVID mitigation measures, such as masks, vaccinations, and quarantines.

A writ of mandate is a request for a court to correct or prevent some kind of governmental activity or overreach. The Henderson action names the Hermosa Beach City School District, and its Superintendent Dr. Jason Johnson; Redondo Beach Unified School District, and its Superintendent Dr. Steven Keller; Torrance Unified School District and its Superintendent Dr. Tim Stowe; Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District, and its Superintendent Dr. Ben Drati; two state agencies and one Los Angeles County department.

South Bay Parents Push Back, both described as unincorporated associations.

The four school districts have joined in retaining Marlon Wadlington, an attorney with the Cerritos firm Atkinson, Andelson, Loya, Ruud & Romo. According to the firm’s website, Wadlington specializes in education, labor, and employment litigation.  

Sources told Easy Reader that responding to the writ has already cost the districts more than $20,000 in legal fees. Redondo Beach’s Keller said conversations are ongoing with the districts’ insurance carriers, noting that he hoped “all or part” of legal costs will be covered by insurance.

Keller added, “Every dollar that this costs is a dollar taken away from what is important, and that’s the kids.”

Citing the pending litigation, Wadlington declined comment for this report.

As the writ petition floated through the Los Angeles County court system, Henderson’s client, Cannon, did something attorney Henderson said in retrospect she would have “advised against.”

In January, Cannon sent a document to a variety of local people, including school district officials, and employees, which threatened personal liability, overwhelming fines, and other Draconian sanctions for allegedly adhering to “illegal” COVID rules and recommendation.

The document, designed to resemble an official court communication, was titled “Notice of Intent to File Claim Against Government Crime Policy Declarations Crime and Fidelity CR DS 04 08 07.”

It charged each recipient with “unconstitutional and illegal actions,” including “violation of your oath of office,” “practicing medicine without a license,” “abuse of power under color of law,” and “conspiracy to interfere with civil rights.”

An Easy Reader story published on Feb. 25 quoted Cannon as saying the objective of the document was “to show what’s going on in the schools right now, how they treat the children, and what they do to the children.” She insisted the intent was “not to intimidate, but to inform. We’re trying to educate [board members],” she said, adding, “I’ve been reading up on this.”

Earlier this month, Quentin Kluthe, a member of the Hermosa Beach school board, responded to attorney Henderson and her clients:

“I want to point out,” he wrote in part, “that your actions are harming our district through distraction and distress caused by your repeated claims that have been responded to at length.”

According to Henderson, her client Cannon’s distribution of the purportedly threatening communications was sparked by a posting of the Easy Reader story on Hermosa Beach Residents’ Forum, a Facebook page.

“This last text started it all,” Henderson told a reporter, citing a comment on the Hermosa Beach Residents’ Forum by Sasha Burczewski Caudle that read: “…wonder if this is the lady that wants to destroy Hermosa schools.” Henderson alleged that members of the forum “defamed my client in writing attacking her as ‘a person who is trying to destroy the school.’”

Henderson demanded of Caudle that she remove the Easy Reader story from the Residents’ Forum.

That was followed by Henderson’s distribution of a deluge of communications to local residents, city officials, business groups and owners hinting at, or directly threatening defamation lawsuits.

Gilbert said Henderson threatened to sue him personally if the Easy Reader story was not removed from the Residents Forum site. Gilbert is an administrator of the site.

“I was quite clear (if not overly polite) in informing Henderson that posting a newspaper article and expressing an opinion on it was obviously constitutionally protected speech,” Gilbert said, “and that if she wanted to sue me over it, she’d likely end up paying for both my lawyer and court fees.” 

In his March 8 complaint to the State Bar, Gilbert wrote, “We have what I believe to be a licensed attorney using her law license to threaten and intimidate in an effort to chill free speech about a suit she’s filed against a public entity. We have examples of that speech being chilled and of that intimidation directly leading to negative action against those she’s threatening.”

When Henderson was informed of Gilbert’s Bar complaint, she responded in an email to Easy Reader, “I haven’t seen any ‘Bar complaint… If so, I need to sue him for defamation and filing a false complaint.”

“Bring it on,” Gilbert said in response. ER

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