Then Fresno Unified Superintendent Bob Nelson could be forgiven for feeling a wave of apprehension when he received an email from local plaintiff’s attorney Warren Paboojian in 2020.

Paboojian’s ability to capture the attention of juries, command the narrative, and elicit salient testimony has powered seven- and eight-figure payouts for his clients.

However, this email was a solicitation by Paboojian to represent Fresno Unified in a statewide lawsuit against JUUL, which Los Angeles Unified and other California school districts wanted to hold responsible for the youth vaping crisis.

In addition, the legal team included Brian Panish, the former Fresno State football player who is one of the nation’s top plaintiff’s attorneys. Among his courtroom victories: a $4.9 billion verdict in Anderson v. General Motors, a landmark product liability case.

To sweeten the offer, Paboojian said the lawyers would cover all up-front costs and if the litigation didn’t prove fruitful then Fresno Unified wouldn’t owe a dime.

“The law firms comprise a team of the best trial and public entity lawyers in California,” Paboojian wrote in an email as the deadline to sign up neared. The attorney also sent multiple emails to local superintendents acknowledging that they had their hands full with the COVID-19 pandemic but encouraging them to join the litigation.

Fresno Unified Missed Out on at Least $2 Million

You might have thought that this was a no-brainer. But Paboojian never heard back from Fresno Unified. In fact, mum was the word from nearly all local districts even though then County Superintendent of Schools Jim Yovino urged them to sign on.

JUUL eventually reached a global settlement for an estimated $1.2 billion resolving claims for roughly 1,6000 school districts nationwide in April 2023.

Kern High School District in Bakersfield, with about 43,000 students, received $1.97 million, Paboojian told me. And Elk Grove Unified, the state’s fourth-largest district with 65,000 students near Sacramento, received more than $2 million, he said.

At the time, Fresno Unified had more students than Elk Grove. Had the district joined, it would have been in line for at least $2 million and possibly more. Had Clovis Unified participated in the litigation, it would have received at least $1.25 million.

Given Fresno Unified’s budget challenges, the district can’t afford to ever again ignore the possibility of receiving millions from class-action litigation for harm done to the young people it educates.

Lesson Learned by Fresno Unified

The good news is, the district appears to have learned its lesson. A Fresno Unified spokesperson told me that the district is part of a lawsuit — again led by Los Angeles Unified — against Meta, Google, TikTok, and other social media companies.

The plaintiffs, which number more than 1,000 school districts nationwide, allege that social media companies knowingly designed products that harm youth. As a result of these harms, schools have had to expand their counseling, crisis intervention, and campus safety efforts.

“Excessive social media use has fueled a youth mental health crisis which essentially forces schools to pivot from education to crisis intervention on a daily basis,” said Aelish Baig, a lead attorney representing LAUSD in the federal multidistrict lawsuit. “The costs with these harms include enormous diversion of staff time, and significant cost associated with the increased anxiety and depression, self-harm and suicidality affecting the students.”

In this case, the plaintiffs are asking the social media giants to redesign the features that allegedly lead to social media addiction and also fund student mental health services.

It’s worth noting two things: In May, Breathitt County School District in Kentucky settled with social media companies for $27 million for contributing to the rising costs of student mental health services; the federal nationwide lawsuit led by LAUSD is separate from the proposed $17 billion settlement with Meta negotiated by California Attorney General Rob Bonta and 50 other attorneys general last month.

Clearly, school superintendents are busy and rightly focused on educating students. But no school district can afford to overlook legal opportunities that will help our youth deal with the social, emotional, and physical injuries callously inflicted by bad actors.