Capistrano District Defends Its Suit Over Court Costs

Stung by accusations of heartlessness, the Capistrano Unified School District on Friday defended its decision to seek court costs from a couple who unsuccessfully sued the district in the death of their 7-year-old son.

Nearly two years ago, Tommy Lanni, a first-grader at Marian Bergeson Elementary School, was struck by a pickup truck. Taking the school bus home for the first time, the boy was trying to cross Aliso Niguel Road when the accident occurred.

The Lannis, who had just moved here from New York, accused the district of negligence and sued for $10 million.

District Supt. James A. Fleming said Friday that because the Lannis rejected the district’s initial settlement offer of $300,000, the district now has “no choice” but to sue for court costs.

“State law is very clear,” Fleming said. “A public agency which offers a settlement and has the offer rejected is entitled to have the other party pay court costs.”

If district officials didn’t sue, Fleming said, they would be making a gift to the Lannis of public funds.

By a 9-to-3 vote, an Orange County Superior Court jury found in January that the district was not at fault in the death of Tommy Lanni.

The Lannis intend to appeal the case, though they have lost one appeal already, and Fleming said that granting them a waiver of their $20,000 debt would be helping them continue their legal fight.

“If the board were to exercise its discretion and risk the granting of public funds,” Fleming said, “those funds could then be used to continue litigation against the district.”

Thomas Lanni, an electrical engineer in Laguna Niguel, said his family will be forced to declare bankruptcy if they have to pay the district’s court costs.

And he doesn’t buy the district’s explanation that state law requires the district to sue.

“They’re very good at creative interpretations of the law,” Lanni said. “They’ve made so many misstatements in this case, I don’t believe anything they say.”

Lanni said the district is trying to scare him and his wife into abandoning their plans to appeal.

“Frankly,” he said, “it’s not going to work.”