District Sues to Oust Reinstated High School Teacher

The Capistrano Unified School District has filed a lawsuit to dismiss a high school teacher arrested for allegedly possessing cocaine but never charged.

The district filed the lawsuit Tuesday in Orange County Superior Court in an effort to overturn an April decision that ruled David Murtaugh be reinstated as a teacher in the district. He remains under suspension.

According to court records, the 41-year-old special education teacher and coach at Aliso Niguel High School was arrested on suspicion of possessing approximately a 10th of a gram of cocaine on Oct. 7, 1995, by sheriff’s deputies in Laguna Niguel.

On Oct. 11, school district officials suspended Murtaugh without pay with the intention of permanently dismissing him for “immoral conduct” and “unfitness for service,” records from the district’s lawsuit indicate.

Murtaugh’s attorney, C. Brent Scott, said the school board suspended Murtaugh, who was hired in 1990, based on a preliminary police report and the recommendation of Supt. James A. Fleming. Murtaugh was never charged or convicted of a felony.

This year, a commission on professional competence took up the matter involving Murtaugh. The panel, made up of two special education teachers from other school districts and an administrative law judge, ruled that Murtaugh’s arrest did not merit his dismissal.

Instead, according to court records, the commission said that Murtaugh had learned a valuable lesson from the “disgrace, humiliation and the jeopardy in which he placed his career and family.” The commission also added that Murtaugh was well-liked by faculty members and was unlikely to repeat his offense.

The district argued in its lawsuit to overturn the decision that the commission did not take into account the evidence relating to Murtaugh’s arrest for possession of cocaine and failed to apply the appropriate legal standard.

The district said Murtaugh offered a district employee cocaine and told him he had more cocaine at his home. Because of his actions, the district said Murtaugh was not responsible enough to discipline and teach students.

Scott said his client has not been treated fairly by the district and is the target of a “deplorable” lawsuit.