Latest / Brian Thomas / Curt Hartman - Lawsuit against Forest Hills Schools

Transcript

Curt Hartman - Lawsuit against Forest Hills Schools · Brian Thomas

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome. Kurt Hartman from the Fitty Law firm, got another
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: lawsuit to talk about. Kurt, could you have you back
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: on the show today? Happy for open today?
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: There all right?
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: First off, you on behalf of your client, Lisa Daily,
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: resident of the school district forest Hill School District, specifically,
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: you find a lawsuit on her behalf asking the Forest
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Hill School District to produce, hopefully an unredacted copy of
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: their Immigrations and Customs Enforcement response plan. Kurt Hartman got
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: to start with, why do they have one in the
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: first place? Is this a plan in search of a problem.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: What's the story behind why they have one? Then we'll
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: get to the reasons why you're suing them.
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: Yeah, no, it is definitely, you know, a solution in
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: search of a problem. But what has happened is, you know,
• 0:41
  Speaker 3: since the last election, the ultra left, ultra progressives have
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: taken over the Forest Hill School Board and so I
• 0:51
  Speaker 3: think this is align with the radical leftist agenda of
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: those on the school board. The hostility towards the school board,
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: you know, kind of predating this was you know, in
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: late January there was a student walkout, one of these
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: student walkout protesting ice right during the middle class, during
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: the middle school, and there's no accountability, no weak percussions
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: for the students.
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: They disrupt the educational process. But I think because the problem,
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: you know, it was anti ICE at that time too,
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: I had no problem just do it, So, you know,
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: I think they're kind of related, but it kind of
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: shows this hostility and this you know, political agenda that
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: the current school board has well.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: And I was offended by the walkout too. I was
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: more curious to know on that one. And I don't
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: know that it's ever been reported, But do you know,
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: did those students walk out to protest at the ICE
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: at the behest of their teachers who would should otherwise
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: have said, don't you can't leave class. You're going to
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: be held accountable, suspended, or otherwise face some penalties for
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: walking out of class.
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: No, not at all. Actually, you know, there's this Stull
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: text group that the students were in that I've got
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: access to, was provided privy to, and you know, at
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: first the students were kind of concerned, but then they said, hey,
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: we talked to the principal assistant principal, and hey, everything's fine,
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: we can do it. Just you know, they gave us
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: the parameters do this, don't shout go to the football field,
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: you know. So so in a certain sense, I think
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: school officials were condoning or you know, supporting in a
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: certain sense this walk out. There was never this, Hey
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: you're gonna be disrupting the school, You're gonna be held accountable,
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: et cetera, none of that. You know, it's just okay,
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: you know, and it's just this, you know, let's take
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: an over academia and the educational process itself, you know
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: throughout the country, you know, is this is this heart
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: radical Marxist ideology. And so when the come comes forward,
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: so they do that walk out. Next thing, you know,
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: the school boards meeting and going into an executive session,
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: and we learned that this ice response plan comes out
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: and said, hey, let's see it exactly what your attitude.
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: Let's see what your attitude is. Because what it's doing is,
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: if you think about it, Brian, it's how do we
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: respond to law enforcement officers enforcing the law. Yeah, exactly,
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: So they redact this under a statute that's based upon
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: you know, protecting information that's you know, an attack, sabotage, interference,
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: or acts of terrorism. I mean, this is a statue
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: that was passed right after nine to eleven, And so
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: that's what it's designed. It's okay, we're not here. So
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: when we are attacked, when criminal activity is occurring against
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: or you know, against public offices, how do we guard
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: against that? Which is who we responded? Criminal activity?
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: Right, that's the argument you advanced. Of course, like wait
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: a second, are you telling us that you perceive the
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: ICE agents to be terrorists in essence?
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: Correct? That's I mean, that's what I equate it to.
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: I mean terrorists, savageurs, et cetera. You know, how are
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: we going to respond? And so it's like, let us
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: see it, you know, let's see what attitude are public
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: officials in Forest Hill School District have towards law enforcement.
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: Well, and it's a plan which suggests there are steps
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: to be taken in the event ICE shows up. So
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: isn't that information they want to pass along to everybody
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: so people follow the plan, Kurt, you would think.
• 4:25
  Speaker 4: You know, now in this filing they just made the
• 4:27
  Speaker 4: other day, they said, oh, well, this has only been
• 4:29
  Speaker 4: short shared with administrators, you know, the nor average staff
• 4:34
  Speaker 4: haven't been made privy to this.
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: Well, that's interesting because one of the sections you know,
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: just talks about how bus drivers should respond, and that's redacted.
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: You know, we don't know what it's redacted with bus drivers.
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: So you got this policy, but you're not telling people
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: how to implement it. You know, it's just this grand standing.
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: Like you said at the beginning, you know, it's a
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: solution in search of a problem.
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: And well, the attorney for the school said, you know,
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: since you meant a comment about the education environment and
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: how the students were basically I would argue encouraged to
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: walk out. At least they were told there we're going
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: to be no repercussions to walk out in protesting ice
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: interrupting the educational environment. Pivoting over to the statement by
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: the attorney, Rather, the district explained the ICE response plan
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: was for the purpose of safety and security for students
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: and staff, for protecting and maintaining the educational environment from
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: interference and redactions. We're legitimate understate law. I don't know
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: how you get to redactions where legitimate understate law. But look,
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: they're interested in maintaining an educational environment and protecting it.
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: They didn't, so their actions speak a little bit louder
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: than the redacted words in this still yet to be
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: seen plan.
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: Correct, correct, Yeah, it's like I said, so, it's like,
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: you know, let us see, let us see what your
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: attitude is. What are these selected officials? Yeah, yeah, what
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: their attitude is. Let us see it either your pro
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: law enforcement or you'd be taking the hostel position or
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: towards it. You know, and if you think about you
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: know this, this was a school board that ran on
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: openness and transparency. Yell, they're a little buzz where it's
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: all everything's being done in secret, everything's behind closed doors.
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: And within two months they're in office and guess what
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: they they've become that which they disdained. Right, but but
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: but that's typical. But that's typical. I think with the
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: left that they will say whatever they have to say
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: to get elected. But then you know, they become it
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: becomes rules for thee, but not.
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: For me clearly. So we're in we're in emotion practice stage.
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: Right now, you file the claim, what do they file
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: a motion to dismiss? Rather you saw.
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: Dismiss I found I followed the response yesterday, you know,
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: and it's gonna be denied. The you know, I've done
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: enough public records cases where you know, this type of case.
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: But the cores will say is no. That will tell
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: the school districts submit whatever this plan is unredacted to
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: the court under seal so they can look at it,
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: and then the court's got to decide whether or not
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: this really is a you know, quote unquote security record
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: record to guard against you know, attack, interference, sabotage, or
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: acts of terrorism.
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: Fair enough, Kurt Hartman, this results in sizable litigation fees
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: getting racked up. I imagine the school district's iner defended
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: it's actions. They have to pay lawyers to respond to
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: the motions and go into court and make maybe make
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: the motions and motions to dismiss for example. So at
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: the end of the day, when you win, and I'm
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: confident that you will since you typically do win these
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: Kurt Hartmen, are they going to be elder or are
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: you going to be eligible to get your retorney's fees
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: covered by.
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: Yes, yes, that'sion. That's provisional of the Public Records Act.
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: So you know, the state led General Assembly enacting this
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: laws that hey, we want people, we want to encourage
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: people to bring actions. If governments are improperly withholding public records,
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: you should be able to pursue it and not be
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: dependent upon you know, you having to pay the fees.
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: So at the end of the day, you win, the
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: government pays the fees.
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: Granted, this is typically a contingency feed type case, Kurt, correct,
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: fair enough. That means Lisa Deli is going to be
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: on the hook to the extent it doesn't go her way.
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: And I appreciate your willingness to do this kind of
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: work work, card I wish we had more lawyers who
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: would who would do exactly what you do and pursue
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: these kind of cases.
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: Well, I'm glad they're not actually for my sake, but
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: you know, yeah, it's good, and you know people do it,
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: and you know, I get calls all the time on
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: other stuff like this, so but you know, they say,
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: I'm out there doing that and fighting for the people
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: to get their records.
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: You are, how quickly will this be turned around? Your
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: brief has been filed, so it's in the court's lap,
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: you say, within thirty days or so.
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: Well, the motion to dismiss will probably be decided, probably
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: within three months. Unfortunately, then the briefing schedule will be
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: a month after that, probably a decision a year from now.
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: I'm fortunate. Unfortunately these do not move fast.
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: Okay, fair enough on that, And I got to ask,
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: are you aware of any other of our you know,
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: sort of local or slash regional school districts that have
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: an immigrations and custom enforcement response plan?
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: Well, yeah, yeah, be honest with you. What we did
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: is we actually did a request to Cincinnati, Columbus, Toledo,
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: and Springfield schools for their plans, same same request. How
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: are you going to respond? They provided what they had, okay, unredacted.
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: I think the only reaction in one was a cell
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: phone number, a cell phone number find But you know,
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: and and you know, it's kind of surprising to me.
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: I had thought there was some templeate that was circulating.
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: Of course.
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, honestly, they were all unique and distinct. One was
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: just kind of an email that the superintendent sent out
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: the staff saying, hey, if this happens, we need to
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: be professional, you know. But again, so yeah, we did
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: the inquiry kind of across the state just to see,
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: just to see, okay, and it was happing. None of
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: them had an issue. Okay, here it is. Within a
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: day or two, they provided and.
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: Unredacted better understanding of the law. That they're supposed to
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: operate underte That suggests so Forest Hills is out in
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: the wind on that one. Now, did you and looking
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: at these other policies, it doesn't sound like you tracked
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: a theme. And I was expecting a one size fits
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: all plan for all the school districts brought to you
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: by some woke teachers union. But there isn't a theme
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: like we need to resist ice, we need to do
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: you know, not invite them in, not cooperate them. That
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: didn't come through, and the ones you looked at that
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: is correct.
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, it was essentially not No, we're not going
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: to outright cooperate, but you know they need to go
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: go to the office, they need to do this. We
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: need to do that, you know. Sure, But but you
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: know most of it was just be calm, be professional, etc.
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: Well that's actually refreshing to hear and surprising, honestly. Kurt
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: Hartman from the Finny Law firm doing right by the
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: greater Cincinnati area. Keep fighting the good fight, Kurt. You
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: know you always have a venue to bring this information
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: to our attention. I welcome you anytime you've got something
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: like that, and again applaud your efforts. Gladly enjoy opening day, Kurt,
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: have a wonderful one until we talk again. Best of
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: health to you and your family. Eighteen Right now fifty
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: five kr CD talk station, jet iheartmediat