Boliou

Defendant Stockton Unified School District filed an accusation against tenured teacher plaintiff David Boliou (Boliou) specifying conduct it claimed merited Boliou’s dismissal. Boliou denied the conduct and demanded a hearing, which the school district scheduled. After the school district and Boliou vigorously litigated the case for 18 months and the school district received some unfavorable rulings, the school district attempted to dismiss the charges before the hearing on the merits of the charges. At the hearing, the commission on professional competence (commission) granted the school district’s motion to dismiss the charges over Boliou’s objection that he wanted a ruling that he should not be dismissed from his employment. Such a ruling would have entitled him to reasonable attorney fees and costs. Boliou took two writ petitions to the trial court. The trial court issued a writ of administrative mandate to order the commission to modify its dismissal order to include a determination that Boliou should not be dismissed and issued a writ of administrative mandate to order the school district to pay Boliou’s reasonable attorney fees and costs.

The issue we must resolve…