A Fresno County judge issued what may be the last development before the legal saga between Fresno Unified trustee Keshia Thomas and former Bullard football coach Don Arax unfolds in December.

On Tuesday, Judge Kristi Culver Kapetan sided with Arax on his attorney Brian Whelan’s motion to keep Thomas’ or district’s lawyers from arguing that the racial slur allegation she made against Arax was truthful or protected speech.

Whelan in a news release said that Kapetan’s summary judgment justified what Arax has been saying for for years: claims of him being racist aren’t true.

“For more than four years, Don Arax has lived under the cloud of a public accusation that he used a racial slur toward a Bullard student on his team. Today, the legal defenses finally caught up with the facts: Nobody is willing to defend that accusation as true,” Whelan said. “Ms. Thomas publicly denies making the statement and denies that her son ever attended Bullard. Fresno Unified abandoned its truth defense, and today the court struck it from the case. They were willing to spread the accusation. They were not willing to defend it.”

A jury trial is scheduled for December.

Related Story: What Fresno Trustee Keshia Thomas’ Son Told Media Versus How He Testified

Was Thomas Acting on District’s Behalf When She Made Accusation?

Fresno Unified’s key defense moving forward will be trying to distance the district from Thomas’ accusation. The district has repeatedly claimed that when Thomas went on the “Unfiltered” show hosted by GV Wire publisher Darius Assemi in 2022, she was not acting as a trustee.

At the time, Thomas had been advertised as a Fresno Unified trustee. What’s more, Whelan said the district helped spread the accusation throughout the district. Witnesses testified under oath that the communications department had sent memos districtwide, one of which “dragged Coach Arax’s name into an unrelated incident at another school,” Whelan said.

“That testimony says a lot about how this happened. Fresno Unified had the ability to broadcast an accusation across the district, but apparently no one thought it was their responsibility to correct it. You cannot unring that bell. But a jury can hold FUSD and the people who rang it accountable,” Whelan said.

Thomas Claims Government Exemption Fee Without Authorization

Fresno Unified has provided attorney representation for Thomas despite not having done so for other trustees in their work-related legal matters. Neither Brooke Ashjian nor Terry Slatic received district-paid representation in their court cases when they served on the board.

The district, however, has paid at least $650,000 in legal fees, according to statements made to GV Wire news partner FOX 26. Additionally, Thomas’ attorneys had been using a filing fee exemption reserved for government employees.

Neither Thomas nor attorneys with Berger Milton, the firm representing Thomas, replied to questions from GV Wire.

When asked by GV Wire whether Fresno Unified had authorized the use of the filing exemption, a spokesperson told GV Wire it had not.

A spokesperson in a statement said Thomas made the choice to use the fee exemption.

“Fresno Unified did not authorize Trustee Keshia Thomas to claim the government filing-fee exemption, and no one asked the school district,” the spokesperson said. “Trustee Thomas has her legal counsel and her own defense in this case, and that defense is completely separate from the district’s. Her attorney makes their own decisions about what to file and how to file it. They do not run those decisions by the district, and they did not do so here.

“The fee exemption was Trustee Thomas’s choice alone. It does not reflect the district’s position on any issue in this case, and it should not be read as the district agreeing that she was acting on its behalf. Whether her use of the exemption was proper is a question for the court, not for Fresno Unified.”

District’s Adds to Legal Team

For the district’s defense, it recently brought on another team of attorneys — The Kneafsey Firm out of Los Angeles, according to court records. The firm joins Johnston & Hutchinson, also based in Los Angeles, in representing the district.

While Kneafsey specializes in business litigation, with an emphasis on real estate and insurance, Johnston & Hutchinson specializes in personal injury.