Advice In Ouster Of Hinsdale District 86 Leader Debated In Litigation

HINSDALE, IL – A law firm is asking a judge to throw out Hinsdale High School District 86's counterlawsuit claiming the firm gave bad advice in ousting the former superintendent.

Last month, the Chicago-based Robbins Schwartz law firm, which has sued the district for $228,000 in unpaid bills, argued in a court brief that the district failed to meet the two-year statute of limitations with its counterclaim.

Asked about the assertion, the district's lawyer, Gary Grasso, said in an email that he was confident that the law firm's brief was not well-founded and that the district would respond.

A few months ago, the district filed the counterlawsuit. It alleged the firm's managing partner, Joseph Perkoski, gave bad advice.

By the district's count, the advice's damage was in the hundreds of thousands of dollars for settling with then-Superintendent Tammy Prentiss and paying interim superintendents.

In its counterclaim, the district said Prentiss called the board's president, Catherine Greenspon, and volunteered details that then-board member Debbie Levinthal and two other board members each had students with special needs.

According to the counterclaim, Perkoski told the board in June 2023 that Prentiss violated no privacy laws because she was not alleged to have revealed a diagnosis or specific student need.

In other words, the board did not have cause to fire Prentiss, meaning it would have to settle for her departure. (She agreed to leave and get a full year of pay and benefits, which cost about $300,000.)

In August 2024, though, another Robbins attorney gave contradictory advice, indicating Prentiss broke the law, even without revealing a diagnosis or specific need, according to the district's counterclaim.

In its filing last month, Robbins said board members disagreed with Perkoski's advice during a closed session.

"Notably, Hinsdale fails to point to any specific excerpt of the alleged advice and instead simply pleads that the Board disagreed with the advice on June 26, 2023, and they disagree now," the firm said in its brief. "This is plainly insufficient."

Robbins also asserted that District 86 admits that it was going to fire Prentiss regardless of the advice, either with or without cause.

The firm also said the district conceded Prentiss may have sued if it had fired her for cause.

"Hinsdale would have required an interim superintendent regardless of the advice; therefore, these allegations cannot support the necessary elements of proximate cause and damages," Robbins said.

In September 2024, Robbins terminated its relationship with the school board, saying the district was "unreasonably difficult" to serve.

The firm did so while it was on track to make $1 million in a year, an unusually large amount from one district.

Robbins is represented by the Chicago-based Wilson Elser law firm.