Judge Orders Ex-Prep School Owner to Pay Santee Mom $5,000 for Lost Tuition

A Santee mother who sued for lost tuition when her sixth-grade son’s La Mesa private school closed suddenly in December won a $5,000 judgment in small claims court Tuesday morning.

But whether the order by Judge Pro Tem John Julius will be carried out is an open question.

Julius ordered Cara Day’s corporation to pay a trust for Judy Thomas’ son $5,000 and filing fees after a 12-minute hearing in El Cajon Superior Court.

Thomas had sued Day for $10,000 as an individual along with the Day-McKellar Preparatory School Inc., but Julius threw out the case against Day as an individual.

However, Julius also ruled that Thomas didn’t have standing to sue Day, since a trust fund set up for the benefit of her son had paid what Thomas said was more than $17,000 for a year’s tuition at the now-closed Jackson Drive school.

So Julius changed the plaintiff in the case to the Jayne L. Thomas Trust Fund. Jayne was Judy’s late sister, and the trust was set up to pay for the education of Judy’s 11-year-old son, who now attends Carlton Oaks School in Santee.

Day’s corporation was ordered to pay $5,000, since that’s the limit of a small-claims case against a business, the court said.

Thomas declined to comment after the hearing, but in a phone interview after the hearing, Day said: “I don’t know” whether Thomas will be paid by the corporation.

“I won’t be getting a bill,” said Day, a La Mesa native and divorced mother of four. “The corporation will be getting a bill. And the corporation doesn’t have an income.”

She said the school corporation “is not operational anymore,” has no money and “no income to pay her.”

So Day said: “My offer to make restitution to [Thomas] through my instructional services is still open,” suggesting that Thomas could get free tutoring worth the amount owed the trust.

“We both wanted the same thing—which was to have the school stay open.”

Day wore a black print blouse and Thomas a white print blouse in court, sitting side-by-side in a ground-floor courtroom next to the cafeteria.

“She offered me a seat when I came in,” Day said of Thomas, who brought a thick paperback novel to pass the time. Court opened at 8 a.m., but her case wasn’t called until 9:40 a.m.

John M. Julius III, a San Diego-based attorney with mediation experience, is not a Superior Court judge but was authorized to render verdicts in small claims court.

At the start of the hearing, a 7-minute video was shown on a large Phillips TV on a rolling cart—with Superior Court Judge Eddie Sturgeon explaining the small claims process and court expectations.

About two dozen plaintiffs and defendants in the small courtroom heard Sturgeon say: “Kindly refrain from making any insulting remarks about the other party.”

Although the Day-Thomas case was No. 11 on the docket, Julius made it second of the morning.  He allowed Patch to photograph himself at the hearing, but rejected a request to take pictures of Day and Thomas in court after both objected.

Day raised the issue that it was the trust that paid the tuition and not Thomas herself.

But Day said it was not a “point of contention. It’s a fact. She didn’t pay tuition. The trust did.”

Asked whether her corporation’s lack of money means Thomas won’t be paid $5,000, Day replied: “I don’t know. My offer stands [for free tutorial services] because I’m doing the best I can to make restitution to anyone and everyone.”

Day said a parent named Amanda, who posted a comment on an earlier story that she was owed $1,500, “was paid.”

“Teachers and anyone who worked with us—that’s a big priority for me—to take care of people,” Day said.