O.C. Lawsuit on Evolution Reinstated

High school teacher John Peloza won a victory over the Capistrano Unified School District on Monday when an appeals court reinstated his lawsuit alleging that district officials forced him to teach evolution as a fact rather than as scientific theory.

Peloza’s lawsuit was not “frivolous,” as federal Judge David W. Williams said when he dismissed it in April, 1992, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday.

Although the appeals court reinstated the suit, it said Peloza’s “only viable claim”--that the district may have violated a First Amendment clause prohibiting government from inhibiting religion--would be “very difficult to support factually.”

Despite the appeals court’s prediction of a tough legal battle ahead, Peloza, 39, and his attorney called the ruling a major victory.

“We’re right back to my original contention that all I wanted to do is to teach the theory of evolution and to question it,” said Peloza of Dana Point. “They were pressuring me not to do that and to teach Darwin’s theory of evolution as if it were a proven fact.”

Attorney Jeffrey Wertheimer, representing the district, said that Monday’s ruling reinstating the suit in U.S. District Court was a “minor setback.” But he said he is confident that when the district presents its case to Williams some time in the fall, the judge once again will find in its favor.

“Mr. Peloza’s argument is that the district forced him to teach a belief,” Wertheimer said. “We will file a summary judgment motion arguing that this wasn’t true. He is required to teach the standard state’s curriculum on evolution, which is that it’s a scientific theory.

“We did that the first time, and the district court agreed with us,” Wertheimer added. “But what we did was, we filed a motion to dismiss the case instead of a motion that the court agree with our argument.”

After argument in District Court, the judge could agree with the school district’s contention and grant a summary judgment in its favor, the appeals court ruled. Nevertheless, it must allow Peloza the time and opportunity to present evidence to support his case.

But to defeat the school district’s contention that it required only that Peloza teach evolution as scientific theory, Peloza must prove that district officials ignored its own policy and required him to teach the theory as undisputed fact.

Cyrus Zal, Peloza’s attorney, said he will have no trouble proving that point. Therefore, Zal said, the school district was supporting atheism and unlawfully took sides in an issue about which the First Amendment required it to remain neutral.

Peloza, who taught biology at Capistrano Valley High School for more than nine years, sued the district, board members and school administrators in 1991, after being reprimanded the year before for teaching creationism over evolution in his classroom.

He alleged that the district violated his constitutional rights by forcing him to teach what he called “the religion” of evolution. District Judge Williams threw out his claims, calling them “frivolous and unreasonable.” The judge also ordered that he pay more than $30,000 in court costs and attorney’s fees. Peloza appealed both judgments.

In Monday’s ruling, the appeals court said Peloza’s suit had merit and therefore he did not have to pay the district’s legal fees. The court, however, struck down his other claims.

It rejected his contention that the district established a state-supported religion. It noted that the Supreme Court has ruled that the theory of evolution--which states that higher forms of life evolved from lower ones--is not a religious belief.

The court also rejected Peloza’s argument that the district suppressed his right to free speech when it prohibited him from initiating discussions of his religious views with his students. Any such discussions with students could violate the separation of church and state, said Judge David Thompson, who wrote the appellate decision.

“While at the high school, . . . Peloza is not just any ordinary citizen,” Thompson wrote in the decision. “He is clothed with the mantle of one who imparts knowledge and wisdom. . . . To permit him to discuss his religious beliefs with students during school time on school grounds would violate” the neutrality clause of the First Amendment.

The appeals panel also found that Williams erred in dismissing the case because he relied on evidence provided by district officials. That evidence was not appropriate during that stage of proceeding, the court said.

Peloza has been teaching health and physical education at Capistrano Valley High school for a year and a half.