CVESD REPORT
AN OPINION NEWSLETTER ABOUT CHULA VISTA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL DISTRICT
JANUARY 2007                                    SAN DIEGO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA                                      Vol. 3, No. 1
CVESD’S LAWYERS FAILED
TO PROTECT STUDENTS
AND TAXPAYERS IN 2006
                                                                                                                                                                                   
How good is lawyer
Daniel Shinoff’s
performance?
       
The Carter Case
In 2000, James “Ted” Carter
was the basketball coach at
Monte Vista High School in
Spring Valley. He informed
administrators when football
coach Ed Carberry urged a
student to take weight-
gaining supplements. When it
became clear that the school
had no problem with this,
Carter took a job at Orange
Glen High School in
Escondido. The student,
Harlan Edison, was eventually
hospitalized with kidney
failure.  Carter began to have
problems at his new school
when Dianna Carberry,  the
wife of the coach who urged
the supplements, became
principal of Orange Glenn.   
Dianne Carberry fired Coach
Carter.  In the lawsuit
that followed, jurors found
that Carter's reporting of his
concerns ultimately
led to his firing as an act of
retaliation by the wife of
coach Ed Carberry.  
Dianna Carberry swore under
oath that she knew nothing
about any problems
between her husband and
Carter, or that any such
disagreement affected her
decision to fire Carter.  Not a
single juror believed her.  
They decided
Escondido Union School
district should pay verdict on
the $1.18 million to
Carter.
Who represented Escondido
School District?  None other
than our own GUHSD attorney
Daniel Shinoff.
Next assignment for
the board: Get rid of
STUTZ LAW FIRM
(see pages 3-4)
BAD LAWYERS COST
MORE THAN THEIR
HOURLY RATES
INDICATE

How much do bad lawyers
cost?  They cost a lot more
than their hourly rate
would indicate.  To make
more money, they prolong
problems.  They end up
charging millions of dollars
for cases that would never
have arisen if schools were
given good legal advice, or
had been advised to settle
early.  Instead of agreeing
to do the right thing for
students and teachers who
have been damaged, bad
lawyers cover-up
documents and witnesses,
clog up the courts with
cases that should have
been settled, and clog up
schools with bad
employees.
CVESD REPORT                                Page 4                                          JAN. 2007
What are the hidden costs of bad
lawyers like Dan Shinoff?

Why did school administrators in the James "Ted" Carter
case allow the harming of children’s health and the firing of
a good employee?  Why did school board members in
Escondido prefer to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to
Shinoff and Morris when James Carter would almost
certainly have been willing to settle for an amount similar
to, or, more likely, less than what the lawyers were paid in
this case?
Because school administrators and school board are
influenced by the unethical lawyers who work for
insurance companies and joint powers authorities.  
When the Carter verdict came out, Shinoff should have said
to the Escondido school board: “Look.  You’ve spent lots of
money on my services, which just got you bad publicity.  
Don’t spend more on me.  Use the money to settle with
Carter. This is very bad for schools to treat good employees
like this, and to spend huge amounts of money to defend
bad employees like Carberry.”  
Instead, Shinoff recommended an appeal.  Shame on you,
Dan.  Your advice is not only bad for schools, it doesn’t
even pass the human decency test.
Logan Jenkins said in a San Diego Union Tribune piece on
April 9, 2005:  “If I were the district's attorney, I'd advise
this simple…action plan to be completed before the end of
the school year: You lost. Settle.”

But Shinoff doesn’t believe in doing right by good school
employees.  He prefers to protect bad ones like Dianna
Carberry and her husband.

One of his favorite tactics is bankrupting the opposition,
who so often tend to be middle-income school employees.

The North County Times reported on April 6, 2005:  
“During the three years since his termination [Carter] has
been unable to get a job interview at any school district in
the region.  Carter said the court battle has cost him about
$300,000 in legal fees, and that he has had to refinance
his La Mesa home a few times.

Instead of settling, Shinoff recommended that Escondido
School District appeal the case.  That would push Carter
even further into financial difficulties.  Did Shinoff think he
had any basis on which to appeal?  Apparently not.  After
another year and a half, on December 20, 2006, Shinoff’s
partner Jeffery Morris wrote to the Court of Appeal that he
had recently begun settlement talks with Carter.  

What was the purpose of Stutz law firm’s strategy, other
than to enrich themselves, waste taxpayer dollars and
burden the overcrowded court system?

The purpose was to make a good man desperate to settle,
so desperate that he would settle for less than he was
entitled to.  And probably a lot less than the district paid to
Shinoff and Morris. Lawyers like Shinoff and Morris are
not clearly working to benefit the schools, the students or
the taxpayers.  Who are they working for?  Themselves,
and the school board members who care more about
maintaining their own power than they care about
anything else.
Shinoff tries to force
winners into bankruptcy
A causa de acciones por
parte de Libia Gil y Gina
Boyd, el Distrito Escolar
de Chula Vista tuvo
problemas legales.  Al
parecer, el abogado del
distrito, Daniel Shinoff,
cree que los distritos
escolares no tienen
obligación de obedecer
la ley.

El abogado Shinoff se
siente con derecho de
recibir cientos de miles
de dolares al año, dinero
que debería estar
beneficiando a los niños
estudiantes o empleados
que han sido dañados,
de una u otra forma, por
falle del distrito.
Is  intending
to sue the
district?

On
                                                                   
 by Maura Larkins
mauralarkins.com
SAN DIEGO EDUCATION REPORT
SD Education Rprt Blog
Due to actions of Libia
Gil and Gina Boyd,
Chula Vista Elementary
School District got in
trouble with the law, and
paid FAR TOO MUCH to
DANIEL SHINOFF’S law
firm.

The district needs new
lawyers.  Lawyer Daniel
Shinoff seems to think
that school districts have
no obligation to obey the
law.  

He thinks school districts
should pay HUNDREDS
OF THOUSANDS OF
DOLLARS a year to HIS
FIRM, and NOT A DIME
to students or
employees who have
been harmed!
Trustee Districts
CVESD REPORT
Published by Maura Larkins
Website: mauralarkins.com
Email:
sandiegoedreport@cox.net
La superintendente de
antes, Libia Gil, despojó
de sus derechos a
personas creativas con
ideas diferentes.

Necesitamos gente
honesta al cargo de la
educación, que respete
la ley y el valor de la
democracia,.  
Creative thinking and
dissent were forbidden
by our old
superintendent LIBIA
GIL and teachers
association president
GINA BOYD.

We need honest
people who respect the
rule of law and the
value of democracy in
charge of education.
Dirigido a los
miembros de la
comunidad de
Chula Vista:
An Open Letter
to the
Taxpayers of
Chula Vista