Judge’s Ruling Stalls Schools’ Suit Against City of Moorpark

The city of Moorpark won a round Wednesday in one of its two lawsuits with the Moorpark Unified School District, but the two sides disagreed on the decision’s importance.

Ventura Superior Court Judge Edwin Osborne granted the city’s motion to quash the announcement of a lawsuit the school district filed against the city. In ruling for the city, the judge agreed that the district failed to advertise its suit in a local newspaper, which is a legal requirement.

The school district’s suit challenges the city’s recent creation of a redevelopment agency for the downtown area, claiming it would seriously limit the district’s future tax revenue and at the same time contribute to the district’s growth. Ventura County and the county’s Community College District have filed similar suits against the city, said Richard Godino, one of the school district’s attorneys.

Moorpark Deputy City Manager Richard Hare said Osborne’s ruling effectively killed the school district’s lawsuit. He said the district had to file suit within 60 days of the creation of the redevelopment agency, and that it is now too late to correct the error.

But the school district’s attorneys and School Supt. Thomas Duffy disagreed, saying the lawsuit itself was still alive and could simply be re-advertised. Godino said that if the city wants to challenge whether the lawsuit met the deadline, that was a separate issue which would have to be brought up later.

The judge declined to comment.

The city and the school district are also opponents in a separate lawsuit over the use of school district property in central Moorpark, former site of the city’s main high school, now an alternative school. The city opposes the school district’s proposal to allow a private developer to build on the site.