After an argumentative deposition in a key defamation case that abruptly ended after exchanges between attorneys for Fresno Unified and plaintiff Don Arax, the court ordered board president Veva Islas to return for a deposition.

Additionally, Superior Court Judge Kristi Culver Kapetan sanctioned the district $1,000 and ordered Islas to answer all questions. Sanctions are legal penalties and the State Bar Association of California requires sanctions of $1,000 or more to be reported.

“The deposition of Genoveva Islas shall proceed forthwith, and the deponent shall answer all questions …” the Nov. 12 order states according to the minutes in the court record. “Court orders Defendant Fresno Unified School District sanctioned in the amount of $1,000.00, payable on or before Dec. 7, 2026, the date of trial.”

On Oct. 29, attorney Brian Whelan, representing Arax in his defamation case against the district and Trustee Keshia Thomas, held a pre-trial deposition of the board president.

Thomas had accused Arax on the “Unfiltered” show of calling her son a racial slur. GV Wire Publisher Darius Assemi hosts the weekly online show.

A court transcript shows school district attorneys objecting to nearly every question and toward the end, ordering Islas not to answer questions regarding her prior comments to the media or about what actions the district took to investigate Thomas’ accusations.

Mark Harris, an attorney for the district, said the matter was “lawyers being lawyers.”

“We believed the questions being asked were inappropriate,” Harris said.

During the deposition, however, Whelan said attorneys were coaching Islas and keeping him from finding out the truth of the matter. He ended the deposition, saying he would get a court order.

“Okay. We’re just going to suspend this. And we’re going to have to come back with a court order because every question I ask you don’t like the answer,” Whelan said in the transcript. “And you’re giving improper instruction. So we’re going to have to suspend it. I’ll get a court order and we’ll come back.”

Fresno Unified Will Comply with Court Order

A Fresno Unified spokesperson in a statement Friday to GV Wire said the district will comply with the court order. The spokesperson said because the matter is in active litigation it could not discuss substance.

“Fresno Unified respects the court and will comply with its order. Board President Islas will complete her deposition as the court has directed,” the statement read. “Because this matter is in active litigation and set for trial next month, the district will not comment on the substance of the case, the deposition, or the testimony of any witness. The district looks forward to presenting its case in court.”

Former Trustee Slatic Censure a Recurrent Topic

Whelan’s questions mostly surrounded whether Fresno Unified conducted an investigation into Thomas’ accusations against Arax and about Islas’ comments to media about decisions regarding district-paid representation for Thomas.

After establishing that the district is paying for Thomas’ representation, questions turned to board discipline. Whelan asked if any discussion was made to censure Thomas for her comments about Arax. Decisions to censure previous Bullard High-area trustee Terry Slatic included a $250,000 investigation. Superintendent Bob Nelson in a previous deposition said no investigation had been done into Thomas’ claims.

Trustees twice censured Slatic, the first time for allegedly grabbing a Bullard student. Slatic previously told GV Wire the district spent that money to investigate accusations against him.

District attorneys instructed Islas during the deposition not to answer. Whelan asked for their reasoning about why she should not answer.

“Okay. And the grounds is what? That you don’t like the answer?” he said.

Fresno Unified attorney Lauren Bullock said during the deposition that the answer would violate deliberative process privilege — a protection for officials and their decision-making strategies.

Questions about Slatic’s censure continued, bringing up matters of race. In a statement to GV Wire, Islas said that Thomas’ controversies — which include reversals from her during another deposition and a sworn testimony from her son that the incident didn’t happen — shouldn’t dismiss the importance of believing women of color.

Whelan asked if Thomas would have been investigated if she was white. Slatic is white.

“No,” Islas said in the transcript.

After a five-minute break, attorneys returned and following that, instructed Islas not to answer nearly every question posed by Whelan.

New Law Firm Marks Sixth in Seven Months

This comes as Fresno Unified on Nov. 3 told the court it had added Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP to its defense with attorney Robert Ferrier as lead counsel, Harris told GV Wire.

The decision to add Lewis Brisbois came from insurance companies with exposure to the case who requested the addition, Harris said.

In June, the district made another lead counsel change, replacing firm Whitney Thompson Jeffcoach with Johnston & Hutchinson.

Harris said that decision came after “strategic dissension about how to move forward.”

The district added Evans, Wieckowski, Ward, and Scoffield LLP to the legal team on Sept. 29 and then two days later added The Kneadsey Law Firm, according to court records.

An attorney with the GN Law Firm also joined the case on behalf of Fresno Unified, the sixth law firm in the past seven months.

In its objection to Whelan’s motion to compel Islas to testify, Fresno Unified attorneys said that outside of her being the board president, she didn’t have much to contribute about the case.

Whelan asked if at any point Islas had discussed Arax with anyone besides counsel, to which Islas replied “no.”

For that reason, the district argued any answers would violate protections about decision-making processes.

The court ordered Islas to testify in her resumed deposition ahead of the Dec. 7 jury trial.