District Will Pay $50,000 to Settle Bustillos’ Suit
The Laguna Beach Unified School District agreed this week to spend $50,000 to settle a lawsuit with Terry A. Bustillos, the district’s former chief financial officer who was fired in the middle of the district’s fiscal mess. He will receive a lump-sum payment this month.
By settling the lawsuit, the district avoids a trial that would have cost at least $40,000 in preparation alone, Board President Kathryn A. Turner said. Neither the school board nor Bustillos admitted any wrongdoing in his August 1996 dismissal.
Bustillos was fired after officials discovered the district was $800,000 short of a balanced budget for the upcoming school year.
Bustillos, then 46, filed a lawsuit in February, charging that his firing was “without just or good cause” and that it violated his contract with the district.
His attorney, Bill Shaeffer, said Bustillos also will receive $50,000 from a worker’s compensation claim.
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