Tuesday, September 8, 2026

PUSD Board President’s Lawsuit to Block Her Recall Goes Before Judge Today

A trial-setting conference in Tina Fredericks’ case against Los Angeles County election officials is set for 9:30 a.m. in downtown Los Angeles, six days after she struck the 124 recall signers from the filing

The lawsuit Pasadena Unified School District Board President Tina Fredericks filed to block the recall petition against her goes before a Los Angeles Superior Court judge this morning for a hearing to set a trial date.

The Trial Setting Conference is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Tuesday before Judge Tiana J. Murillo in Department 834 at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse in Los Angeles.

A trial-setting conference is a scheduling matter rather than a trial. The judge typically determines whether a case is ready to be placed on the trial calendar and works out the structure of any future trial — whether it will be tried to a jury or to the judge, and which claims will be tried. Witnesses are rarely called, and no evidence or testimony on the merits is normally given.

The conference follows Fredericks’ Sept. 2 Amended Verified Petition, which struck “DOES 1 TO 124, inclusive” from the case caption and from the petition’s opening paragraph. The figure matched the number of District 6 residents who signed the notice of intention to circulate the recall petition, according to the original filing, thus leading recall proponents to conclude Fdericks intended to include each of them in her suit. Fredericks said a misunderstanding of the filing requirements landed them in the case.

“I had no intention of suing them,” she told Pasadena Now. “From the beginning my goal was just to clear up the falsehoods about me, and that’s it.”

They were removed from the case filing last week.

Fredericks filed her original verified petition July 2, naming the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, and designated it a priority matter under Elections Code section 13314(a)(3). It sought a temporary restraining order and preliminary and permanent injunctions barring the county from authorizing circulation of the recall petition until a court could decide whether it should be invalidated. Fredericks, who represents Trustee Area 6, is lrgally representing herself in court proceedings.

The recall petition’s stated grounds allege Fredericks violated the Ralph M. Brown Act through private meetings and serial communications on school consolidation, advanced her own “Consolidation 2027″ plan while portraying the process as independent, and worked with a consultant before it received a taxpayer-funded contract worth more than $233,000. She denies each assertion, saying no more than two or three of the seven board members took part in any communication and that “Consolidation 2027″ was a compilation of personal notes never circulated.

The Registrar-Recorder approved recall petitions against Fredericks and Trustee Scott Harden for signature gathering Aug. 13. Proponents have until Dec. 11 to gather signatures from 20% of eligible voters in each trustee area.