District Sues Law Firm in Fee Dispute : Education: Former attorneys for Centinela Valley schools deny charges that they defrauded the district of $2 million in billings.

Officials of the Centinela Valley Unified School District are suing their former lawyers, alleging they defrauded the district of almost $2 million in legal fees.

The suit alleges that Liebert, Cassidy & Frierson overcharged the district for three years while representing the district in several racial discrimination claims, including one brought by former Supt. McKinley M. Nash.

According to the suit, the firm fraudulently prepared billing slips and time sheets and refused to submit billing claims to the district’s insurance agency. Bypassing the agency, the suit alleges, allowed the firm to charge $100 more per hour than the insurance company would cover.

The suit also charges that Nash agreed to retain the firm’s services for the district in exchange for favorable treatment if Nash were to sue the district for racial discrimination. But school district officials said Tuesday night that allegation will be dropped from the suit.

Nash, who is not listed as a defendant in the suit, called the allegation absurd. The suit “is crazy, unbelievable,” he said. “It’s a blatant disregard for the truth.”

William H. Newkirk, one of the district’s new lawyers, says Liebert, Cassidy & Frierson did not do a very good job of representing the district. He said his firm has agreed to be paid out of any damages paid to the district by its former law firm.

But Larry J. Frierson of Liebert, Cassidy and Frierson, disagreed. “We believe that we provided competent and sensitive legal counsel to the district during a difficult and stressful time,” he said. “The complaint contains allegations which are simply false.”

Liebert, Cassidy & Frierson was hired by the district in January, 1990, officials said. The firm represented the district during a contract dispute with Nash and during several racial discrimination claims filed by Nash and other district employees.

Nash’s attorney, George W. Shaeffer Jr., said Nash’s contract dispute was settled and, as a result, the discrimination claim was dropped.

The claims cost the district hundreds of thousands of dollars and led to a U.S. Department of Justice report that said the district maintained “a racially hostile environment.”

The firm’s contract with the district was not renewed by the school board, and its legal obligations to the district expired in September, 1993, officials said.

The district is seeking an undisclosed amount of damages.