Week of May 4, 2026

Plaintiffs in Oregon’s 2024 Coos County school-trust case file Motion to Compel, alleging the State’s document production was largely non-responsive.

Oregon school-trust plaintiffs file Motion to Compel; allege State’s discovery response failed to produce trust-accounting records

Coos County, Oregon — May 2, 2026.

Plaintiffs in Siuslaw School District 97J et al. v. State of Oregon et al., Case No. 24CV38372 (Coos County Circuit Court) — a school-trust-lands fiduciary-breach case pending before Judge Stone — filed a Motion to Compel Production of Documents on Friday, May 2. The motion asks the court to order the State of Oregon, the State Land Board, Governor Tina Kotek, State Treasurer Tobias Read, and Secretary of State Elizabeth Steiner to produce trust-accounting records that plaintiffs say the State has refused to disclose despite a January 28, 2026 Request for Production.

Plaintiffs include Siuslaw School District 97J, Powers School District #31, Oakland School District, Advocates for School Trust Lands (ASTL), and Oregon Advocates for School Trust Lands (OASTL). They are represented by Daniel Zene Crowe, OASTL General Counsel.

The motion follows a six-month discovery exchange. Plaintiffs served their First Request for Production on January 28, 2026, seeking among other things the State’s internal communications and decision-making records governing 2024-period management of the Common School Fund. The State served its Response on February 27, 2026, which the motion characterizes as consisting “largely [of] ‘General Objections’” rather than substantive production. The State subsequently produced approximately 2,500 pages of documents.

According to the supporting Declaration of Daniel Zene Crowe (signed April 23, 2026), plaintiffs identified substantive responsive production on five exhibits within that volume: the Common School Fund 2025 Annual Financial Report (37 pages), a CSF Fact Sheet (2 pages), the Legislative Fiscal Office 2025–27 Budget Review for the Department of State Lands (7 pages), and two native Excel ledgers totaling two pages. The motion further asserts that a substantial portion of the remaining production consisted of duplicate copies of documents authored by the plaintiffs themselves — including OASTL publications, plaintiffs’ Tort Claim Notices, and plaintiffs’ own correspondence — re-served to plaintiffs under unique Bates numbers.

The motion’s core legal argument invokes ORCP 46 A and Wood v. Honeyman, 178 Or. 484, 173 P.2d 56 (1946) — the Oregon Supreme Court’s foundational decision on a trustee’s duty to maintain “full and accurate accounts” of trust administration. Plaintiffs contend that the State, having produced raw transaction data on the Common School Fund, has conceded that trust-accounting records are within the scope of discovery, and cannot now withhold the internal directives and decision-making records that explain the underlying management decisions.

The motion is procedurally tied to two prior court determinations. On September 5, 2025, the trial court (then assigned to Judge Combs) issued a Letter Opinion denying the State’s Motion to Dismiss with respect to 2024-period management decisions, finding that common-law trust principles govern the State’s fiduciary duties. On January 28, 2026, the Oregon Court of Appeals decided A184055 — the related case 23CV39056 — holding that “[a] court’s decision on the law governing the management of the common school fund will have practical effects on the amount that the common school fund contributes to the schoolchildren plaintiffs’ education.” The motion cites both rulings to argue that the State’s relevance objections to RFPs 4 through 9 are foreclosed.

On April 23, 2026, counsel for plaintiffs and the State conferred under Uniform Trial Court Rule 5.010 in an attempt to resolve the discovery dispute without court intervention. On April 28, the State’s Senior Assistant Attorney General Benjamin Hickman, in follow-up correspondence, suggested that plaintiffs serve subpoenas under ORCP 55 on State sub-agencies to obtain the records. Plaintiffs declined, taking the position that the State as named Trustee of the Common School Fund cannot delegate its trust-accounting obligations to its own internal administrative agencies. The motion was filed five days later.

Oral argument on the motion has been requested. The case is assigned to Judge Stone of the Coos County Circuit Court.

The motion seeks an order compelling production and reserves the right to seek sanctions under ORCP 46. Sanctions available under that rule include, among others, an order striking defenses, treating designated facts as established for purposes of trial, or other relief the court deems appropriate.

Sources

• Plaintiffs’ Motion to Compel Production of Documents, Siuslaw School District 97J et al. v. State of Oregon et al., Case No. 24CV38372 (Coos Cty. Cir. Ct., filed May 2, 2026). Document on file in the Coos County Circuit Court.
• Declaration of Daniel Zene Crowe in Support of Plaintiffs’ Motion to Compel Production of Documents, ibid., signed April 23, 2026.
• Plaintiffs’ First Request for Production of Documents to Defendants, served on Defendants January 28, 2026.
• Defendants’ Response to Plaintiffs’ First Request for Production, served on Plaintiffs February 27, 2026.
• Wood v. Honeyman, 178 Or. 484, 173 P.2d 56 (1946).
• Letter Opinion of Judge Combs, Siuslaw School District 97J et al. v. State of Oregon, 24CV38372, dated September 5, 2025 (denying Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss with respect to 2024-period claims).
• Siuslaw School District 97J et al. v. State of Oregon et al., A184055 (Or. Ct. App., decided January 28, 2026).
• ORCP 46 A; ORCP 55; UTCR 5.010.

Confidence: Verified. Primary-source filings on record with the Coos County Circuit Court; copies on file in the Library’s primary-source archive (24CV38372 docket).

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