Suits against school, hospital districts may be thrown out Suits against school, hospital districts may be thrown out (June 17, 2005)

Three local school districts and a hospital district received good news this week in a lawsuit that has so far stopped hundreds of millions of dollars in projects dead in their tracks.

Lawsuits filed by landowner and attorney Aaron Katz have halted the sale of bonds by the El Camino Hospital District and the use of parcel tax funds by three local school districts. Reports this week indicate that the county judge in the case, Kevin McKenney, may throw the cases out, according to El Camino spokesman Jon Friedenberg.

Katz maintains that the bond and parcel tax elections were unfair because landowners who don't live in the districts -- like him - were not allowed to vote. He has also sued the Mountain View-Whisman School District, the Campbell Union High School District and the West Valley Mission Community College District.

El Camino officials continue to be hopeful that the suits get thrown out. The suit is likely to cause a delay in the groundbreaking of the new hospital campus, which was scheduled to happen this fall. In 2003 voters authorized the district to sell $148 million in bonds to build a new hospital that meets the state's seismic requirements. -- Kathy Schrenk

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