Chapter 16: Our Day in Court

Sandy had filed Candelotti and Scott v. ISD, et al. with the Superior Court and started discovery, seeking documents and depositions from ISD officials and staff. When the ISD insurance carrier saw the medical reports from Tania and Lara, they wrote a check for the $2 million limit of their policy and fled, never to be seen again. Now we were dealing only with ISD, and Sandy soon had them on the ropes.

County medical records showed an alarming rate of non-accidental on-campus injuries at the ISD high school that led to emergency department treatment and hospital admissions. After cross-referencing, in only a very few instances was there any discipline handed out after these incidents. In depositions, principals and counselors airily waved away problems, saying, “We don’t get involved in these inter-student conflicts. They need to work them out for themselves.”

In her meetings with us, Sandy showed not only how weak their case was, but how badly they were defending it. She proposed, and we agreed, to take some of the insurance payout and hire a forensic accountant, Dr. Henry Strauss. ISD’s stated fund balances were distinctly less than they ought to be.

I tried not to get caught up in the drama and details of the case. After the insurance payout, the Scott/Tyson families had some breathing room. The absurdly generous Dr. Pereira refused rent payments (from Dan and me). We were spending our days building up our now-possible college applications and preparing for standardized tests. At night, we needed to burn calories with lots of sweaty sex, owing to the cornucopia from Lennie’s kitchen. Dan couldn’t help but appreciate how I had become a 38-D since we moved in.

To celebrate my bouncy boobs, we practiced tit-fucking. When Dan became too immersed in his studies, I would block his ears with boob muffs.

The forensic accountant completed his report, and Sandy filed it with the Judge. Three weeks later, the State Auditor notified the Judge that not only was our Strauss report verified, but that she was asking the Attorney General to begin a criminal complaint over the findings. Convening our case the next day, the judge thundered angrily at the ISD representatives, while we watched from the back of his courtroom.

“I’m done with this case. I’m making my rulings now.”

One by one, he dismissed their requests, objections, motions, everything.

“You can appeal my judgment, but you would have to post an amount equal to my finding in escrow, and since you previously lied about what funds you have, that’s not going to go well for you.”

“I am going to award the plaintiffs an amount based on their actual damages and punitive damages and within ISD’s actual, not imagined, ability to pay. If ISD decides to appeal my entirely reasonable ruling, and they fail, which they will, and this case is returned to me, as it would be, then my next ruling will be far more stringent. Do we understand one another? Good.”

“In the matter of Candelotti and Scott v. Inland School District, it is the judgment of the Superior Court of California in Riverside County, Jason P. Carswell presiding, that plaintiffs receive three million two hundred thousand dollars, payable no later than the last day of April, which is next month. The judgment shall be increased by two hundred thousand dollars for every two weeks past that previously cited date that the assessment goes unpaid. It is further ordered that the entire contents of the “Account 150 Special Purpose Fund” identified by the forensic accountant as the “Slush Fund” be used first to satisfy this judgment until that fund is exhausted. Only after that can other ISD funds be used.”

“So ordered. This hearing is adjourned.”