JUDGE REFUSES TO REINSTATE DISCRIMINATION CASE.

Byline: Charles F. Bostwick Staff Writer

PALMDALE - A federal appeals court has refused to reinstate ousted Palmdale School District official Diana Beard-Williams' racial discrimination lawsuit against school officials.

The three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit ruled that the trial judge did not abuse his discretion by throwing out the lawsuit when Beard-Williams failed to appear in court for cross-examination by the school district's attorney.

``Although Beard-Williams sent a doctor's note on the third day of her absence, the court was not required to credit this letter, which was not written under penalty of perjury,'' said the appellate ruling from Circuit Judges Robert Beezer, Ferdinand Fernandez and Richard Paez.

Because dismissal was proper, the appellate justices said they did not review Beard-Williams' other allegations, including charges that the judge was biased against her and made errors in court, that her own attorney inadequately represented her and that the school district's attorney intentionally mischaracterized issues in court.

In the ruling filed April 24, the appellate justices also denied school officials' request that Beard-Williams be ordered to repay $267,000 spent on school district attorney fees.

The appellate justices said the trial judge was correct in deciding that Beard-Williams need not pay the district attorney fees because her lawsuit was not frivolous.

Palmdale School District superintendent Nancy Smith said she was pleased at the outcome and doubts that Beard-Williams could get a hearing before the Supreme Court, if she decides to take it that far.

``We're very pleased this part of it's over,'' Smith said.

The district's share of the $267,000 for its attorneys' fees were $5,000, Smith added. The rest was paid by a self-insurance fund created by the Palmdale School District and 17 other school districts, she said.

Beard-Williams said the appellate ruling, by denying the school district's request for attorney fees, confirmed that she had not sued the district frivolously.

``I had a case; I just had no way to litigate it,'' she said. ``The only thing I want was to affirm the case was not frivolous and it did have merit.''

To settle a separate workers' compensation case against the school district, Beard-Williams said she was paid $50,000 plus medical bills and other expenses earlier this year.

Beard-Williams was fired in April 1999 from her $59,347-a-year job as public relations director of the Palmdale School District and executive director of the Palmdale Education Foundation.

She said she was discriminated against because she is an African- American woman and because she complained about what she called fraudulent spending on the Palmdale Head Start preschool program.

School officials said she harassed co-workers, mishandled foundation financial records and refused to obey the superintendent.

Her racial discrimination lawsuit was dismissed Oct. 19, 2001, by U.S. District Court Judge A. Howard Matz after she failed to show up in court for three days.

Beard-Williams' husband gave the judge a note from her psychiatrist that stated it was not advisable for her to appear in court. The judge said he believed that Beard-Williams stayed away because she expected that if the jury issued a verdict it would go against her.

Beard-Williams' attorney had quit the previous day, after Beard-Williams faxed the news media a letter criticizing her performance in court.

Beard-Williams said Wednesday that the note from her psychiatrist was not written under penalty of perjury, but that an earlier declaration from another doctor was.