Change to federal court spikes cost for Rochester school board

Rochester Community Schools successfully requested that a lawsuit filed against its board and most board members be transferred from state district court to federal court. The result will be higher legal expenses for the district, according to an attorney who represents the plaintiff in the suit.

Carol Beth Litkouhi, a trustee of the Board of Education of the Rochester Community School District, sued the board in district court Feb. 3 after the board censured her and removed her from all committee assignments. That censure came in response to a Detroit News op-ed in which Litkouhi mentioned a possible countywide tax increase.

A Rochester Schools official blamed Litkouhi for forcing the district to spend money defending the lawsuit.

“With litigation, the plaintiff’s action of filing a lawsuit is the primary factor when determining costs,” Lori Grein, executive director of strategic communications for the district, told Michigan Capitol Confidential in an email.

Grein said filing to remove the case from Oakland County District Court to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan did not add costs for Rochester Community Schools. She did not address the ongoing costs of arguing the case, which tend to be higher in a federal court than in a state venue.

Litkouhi told Michigan Capitol Confidential that she chose to file in district court because state courts have jurisdiction over school district matters. Michigan courts routinely hear First Amendment cases as well, she said.

The suit alleges that the board’s action against her violated the First Amendment and Michigan law. Litkouhi is not seeking damages.

“Filing locally meant putting the case in front of a judge elected by the same voters who elected this board, in a familiar courthouse, with a process that is normally faster and much less expensive for everyone involved, including the district,” Litkouhi said.

Shifting the case to federal court removes it away from the local community and into a system that will be more costly for both sides, she said.

“It is ironic to hear lectures about protecting the district from legal expenses from the same people who declined the closest, most community-based venue to resolve the matter,” Litkouhi said.

Had board members believed the suit was filed in the wrong court, Litkouhi said, the appropriate move would have been to file a motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction.

“Carol Beth selected the Oakland County District because it is the court that has jurisdiction over school district matters,” Derk Wilcox, senior attorney at the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation and Litkouhi’s attorney in the suit, told CapCon in an email.

Michigan’s courts, Wilcox said, can hear cases that involve both the Michigan Constitution and the U.S. Constitution, and they provide a cheaper way of resolving disputes.

“Oakland County District Court is almost always the lower-cost option for all the parties—any lawyer can tell you that,” he said.