School board hires new legal help

Rutherford Institute's Neuberger dismissed

By Jonathan Starkey
Staff Reporter

The Indian River School Board’s legal team changed twice this week.

On Tuesday, the board voted unanimously to hire attorney Jason Gosselin from the Philadelphia law firm Drinker, Biddle and Reath to represent the board on the lawsuit filed by its insurer last month.

And just one day earlier, Judge Joseph Farnan kicked Thomas Neuberger, who had been working pro-bono for board member Reginald Helms, off of the Dobrich/“Doe” prayer case.

In his opinion, made public on Tuesday, Farnan dismissed Neuberger from the case because Helms is not listed as an individual defendant. The board as an entity is being sued by the Dobriches and another unidentified family for a violation of First Amendment rights.

Neuberger said that he was booted by the request of the board’s insurance-agency-appointed attorneys, John Balaguer and John Cafferky, and will appeal to get back on the case on Monday.

“It’s not true that he was removed from the case by the request of me or any other lawyer,” Balaguer responded on Wednesday.

Balaguer and Cafferky are still working for the board on the prayer suit. The second suit filed in federal court last month by Utica Insurance is seeking to make the board pay for legal fees for Balaguer and Cafferky — who were being paid by Utica — reportedly because the board denied the settlement offer in the Dobrich case.

According to board members, that suit asks for legal fees accumulated after Feb. 27, the night the board unanimously rejected the settlement.

The insurance-agency-appointed attorneys told the board to accept the settlement, according to board member Donald Hattier and board President Charles Bireley. It was, however, ultimately denied because it included conditions Hattier and Neuberger called unacceptable.

According to Hattier and Neuberger, one condition stated that the board could no longer use the words “Christmas” or “Easter” in district policy, such as in outlining vacation periods.

Neuberger said that Gosselin — who he thinks will take over for Balaguer and Cafferky — specializes in suing insurance companies with the “world class” Drinker, Biddle and Reath.

According to Drinker Biddle’s Web site at www.drinkerbiddle.com, Gosselin is a partner in the Insurance Practice Group of the firm’s litigation department and focuses mainly on insurance and financial cases. Gosselin could not be reached for comment before press time.

“The big boys are coming in now,” said Neuberger, a Rutherford Institute attorney. (The Ruthorford Institute is an organization with a stated agenda of protecting civil liberties and human rights but has often been criticized for what is seen as a conservative Christian agenda. The organization first came to public prominence by backing the Paula Jones lawsuit against Bill Clinton.)

“The rape of the Indian River School board will stop,” Neuberger continued. “The ACLU now has a world class law firm to face. This is good news for the people of the Indian River School District.”

Indeed, Rutherford Institute President John W. Whitehead, shortly after the group got involved in the IRSD’s legal matters, told the Coastal Point that he welcomed such a suit, because it might serve to put the issues involved to rest once and for all, with a possible decision from the U.S. Supreme Court.

Thomas Allingham, the ACLU-cooperating attorney representing the plaintiffs in the prayer suit, was not available for comment before press time.

The Dobriches — a Jewish family — filed the prayer suit in February of 2005, joined by the unidentified family, claiming that the district had violated their First Amendment rights by promoting Christianity in school, at athletic events and at a graduation ceremony.

They offered a settlement in the case late last year. The settlement reportedly included a six-figure money settlement and various conditions. That settlement was rejected by the school board in February of 2006.