District Seeks Legal Costs in Creationism Suit : Courts: Capistrano Unified says $30,884 was spent defeating allegations that John Peloza was forced to teach evolution as a religion and had his rights violated.

After months of costly court battles, attorneys for the Capistrano Unified School District have asked a federal judge to decide whether biology teacher John Peloza and his supporters should pay for the district’s legal fees.

Last month, U.S. District Judge David W. Williams tossed out Peloza’s claim that he was being forced to teach evolution as a religion and that the district had violated his 1st Amendment rights.

Defending itself against the suit cost the district about $30,000 in legal fees, according to the district’s attorneys.

“Every dollar we have to spend on the education of the children in our district is scarce and precious,” district Supt. James A. Fleming said. “Mr. Peloza is backed by a national organization which apparently has given him a blank check for legal expenses.”

Peloza’s attorney, Cyrus Zal, works for the Rutherford Institute of California, an Encinitas-based group that describes itself in publications as specializing “in the defense of religious liberty, family autonomy and sanctity of human life.”

The California chapter has also pursued other cases where religious and secular beliefs have collided at schools.

In his lawsuit, Peloza named the district, seven school board trustees, five administrators and five teachers. District officials said his legal fees were paid by the Rutherford Institute, but Zal denied that.

“I’ve gotten very little pay for this,” Zal said. “I’m donating the time out of my own pocket.”

He accused the district of trying to “insulate itself from future lawsuits by making it expensive for anyone to bring a lawsuit against it.”

Peloza agreed.

“It doesn’t surprise me that our district would be so arrogant (as) to attempt to recoup funds that they needlessly spent on pursuing me,” he said. “I’m a schoolteacher. Do you know of any schoolteachers who can afford $30,000?”

In papers petitioning the court to order Peloza to pay the legal fees, David C. Larsen, attorney for the district, called the teacher’s suit “utterly frivolous.”

“Defendants were forced to spend approximately $30,884 of school district money researching, drafting and arguing their motion to dismiss at a time when the money could have and should have been used to benefit the students at Capistrano Unified,” the legal papers say.

Larsen further alleged that Peloza sued the other teachers merely because they had spoken out against him. One of the teachers--James Corbett, adviser for Paw Prints, the school newspaper--was named after a student wrote a column denouncing Peloza.

Fleming also charged that Peloza and the Rutherford Institute had used the courts to further their own agenda.

“If these people wish to use the judicial system of this state to further their political agenda, they should pay for it, not the children or taxpayers of Capistrano Unified,” Fleming said.

Since his lawsuit was thrown out of court, Peloza has been reassigned to teach physical education at the high school and has appealed Williams’ ruling. The petition filed by the district does not address whether Peloza should be made to pay future legal fees.

Williams will listen March 16 to the district’s request for attorney fees.