Another Katz lawsuit Another Katz lawsuit (September 24, 2004)

Aaron Katz has sued another school district before. In 1997, he took the Los Gatos-Saratoga Joint Union High School District to court over a disagreement about enrollment boundaries.

Part of Katz's property is in the Los Gatos-Saratoga district, and part is in Campbell. Katz's tenants tried to place their children in the Los Gatos-Saratoga schools, but were denied enrollment by district officials, who felt that the majority of the Katz property was in Campbell. Katz sued on behalf of his tenants.

The courts ruled in favor of Katz, but the school district appealed the decision twice. The district ultimately lost the case earlier this year when a judge upheld the court's earlier ruling in favor of Katz.

Katz is in the process of seeking payment for attorney fees from the district. Los Gatos-Saratoga Superintendent Cindy Ranii declined to say how much the school district spent fighting this lawsuit, saying she wanted to hold off commenting until after the case is completely closed.

Mill Brown & Dannis, the San Francisco law firm which represented Los Gatos-Saratoga in its seven-year legal fight against Katz, is the same firm defending Mountain View-Whisman in the Measure J case.

-- Julie O'Shea

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