Win at the Court of Appeals

Last fall, the lead attorney for BCS mocked the Superior Court judges, saying that they just don't have the time to study complex issues and that they generally don't understand cases like the ones we are involved in.  Given the BCS willingness to run to the appellate courts, it seems that they've viewed the 2009-10 case as the sign that teh appellate courts are "in the BCS camp".

Back in December 2012, the Appellate court took just days to rule against BCS on one of their appeals. (link)

More recently, (this past week), the District was pleased to have the Appellate Courts dismiss the BCS appeal in the Anti-SLAPP case.  Recall that BCS brought an anti-SLAPP motion against LASD in an attempt to kill the District's cross-complaint.  By filing the anti-SLAPP, and by appealing when they lost at the trial court, BCS was holding at bay any legal discovery activities that might otherwise proceed.  Now that BCS has lost their appeal, LASD will be able to move forward with discovery.

The Cross Complaint is an important action because it asks the courts to examine BCS admissions practices and their treatment of certain student groups, and asks the court to then determine whether those actions should impact LASD facilities allocation to BCS.  Now that the roadblocks are cleared, we'll begin the important excavation work that is necessary to pull together the information we need to put before the court. 

I have no illusions that the Cross-Complaint is moving swiftly to trial.  BCS has, in the recent past, defied Discovery, and has been sanctioned by the courts for their behavior.  (They've appealed those sanctions too, so we'll have to wait and see what happens there.)  However, clearing these roadblocks is important- we need to move forward and get clarity from the court on the questions we've raised.

Regardless of what BCS attorneys seem to think of the trial courts, the Appellate Courts seem to think they've been "getting it right", because they have affirmed their decisions.