Christiansen Trial Scheduled for May

The Beverly Hills Unified School District may finally get its day in court next month in regard to Karen Christiansen.

The trial of the former BHUSD director of planning and facilities is scheduled to start May 26, according to a report on the Beverly Hills Courier website. The report also said that Christiansen’s case has been separated from the case against Jeffrey Hubbard, a former BHUSD superintendent.

Christiansen is charged with four counts of conflict of interest, while Hubbard, who is on paid leave from his job as superintendent of the Newport-Mesa Unified School District, is charged with two counts of misappropriation of public funds.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Stephen Marcus ruled at a hearing Friday that there were no common counts between Christiansen and Hubbard.

“It makes no difference to the district” that the cases have been separated, BHUSD board Vice President Brian Goldberg told Patch. “The defendants have been asking for that [separation].”

The criminal complaint against Hubbard alleges that he increased Christiansen’s monthly auto allowance to $500 in 2005 and gave her a $20,000 stipend in early 2006, both without school board approval. His trial is scheduled to start June 29.

The complaint against Christiansen alleges that she brokered three contracts between BHUSD and energy company Johnson Controls, acting as an outside consultant while she was on staff with the district. She also allegedly aided Johnson Controls in brokering a deal with Hubbard and the Newport-Mesa Unified School District.

The conflict of interest charges include her recommendation for a $334 million Measure E bond for the district and advocacy that her company, Strategic Concepts, be hired to manage the bond. Voters approved Measure E in 2008 to modernize the city’s aging schools.

Christiansen with two counts of misappropriation of public funds. Those charges were dropped after the district attorney determined that only the person who authorizes the payment—in this case Hubbard—can be held liable under the criminal statute, according to attorneys at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan. Quinn Emanuel is representing BHUSD in the legal proceedings.

BHUSD has spent much energy and money on these cases, and it is good to see that they may soon be resolved. As Patch reported in February, the district spent on Quinn Emanuel alone. BHUSD also spent $642,986 last year in legal expenses mostly related to the Christiansen litigation, according to an from Christy White Accountancy Corp.

The cases took on unseemly elements when The Orange County Register reported that Christiansen and Hubbard exchanged dozens of with each other, sent from school email accounts. Hubbard apologized for the emails—describing them as “an embarrassing mistake”—when he requested that the Newport-Mesa district put him on paid leave to deal with the trial.

Be sure to follow Beverly Hills Patch on Twitter and "Like" us on Facebook.