Judge tosses Katz suit on technicality Judge tosses Katz suit on technicality (June 24, 2005)

El Camino off the hook, but challenge remains for MV-Whisman parcel tax

By Kathy Schrenk

There was good news for El Camino Hospital officials this week in a lawsuit that has tied up their building plans, but the Mountain View-Whisman school district may still be on the hook for thousands more dollars in legal fees.

Santa Clara Superior Court Judge Kevin McKenney dismissed a lawsuit by Saratoga attorney Aaron Katz on June 17 because Katz didn't alert the public to his suit as the law requires. The action challenged Measure D, a $148 million bond measure that passed in November 2003 and would pay for the rebuilding and seismic upgrading at the hospital campus.

Katz maintains that he should have been allowed to vote in the election -- even though he doesn't live in the district -- because he owns rental properties in the district. He has said that he would be the one paying the tax instead of his renters, who were allowed to vote in the election.

Besides the El Camino Hospital District, Katz has also sued the Mountain View-Whisman district, the West Valley-Mission Community College District and the Campbell Union High School District.

Mountain View-Whisman officials also plan to move for dismissal. But they fear the suit will continue to cost the cash-strapped district big bucks, board member Fiona Walter said.

"To date we've spent about $100,000 on it and unfortunately we have another $50,000 budgeted for it," Walter said. "Those are dollars that don't get to be used on programming."

El Camino officials are glad that their suit was thrown out, but their original plans that called for a fall groundbreaking are still up in the air, said Jon Friedenberg, vice president of resource development. It remains to be seen when the hospital can actually sell the bonds, and the hospital's attorneys are looking into that. "We should have some kind of announcement in the next few weeks about the groundbreaking," Friedenberg said.

Katz, who could not be reached for comment, has said he intends to appeal the decision.

The suit was thrown out based on Katz's failure to publish public notice in a newspaper of his suit within 60 days of filing. This appears to put El Camino Hospital and the community college and high school districts in the clear, but the elementary district has yet to file its appeal. That should happen within the next month, said Walter, adding that she is "optimistic" about the district's chances.

If Katz succeeds, Mountain View-Whisman would be forced to reimburse taxpayers millions of dollars, which would be fiscally devastating.

The school district's Measure J, a $1.6 million annual parcel tax, won with 69 percent of the vote in March 2004. On average, the tax costs property owners $75 a year. Some property owners pay more than the average, and some pay less, based on the size of their property.

E-mail Kathy Schrenk at kschrenk@mv-voice.com

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