Thomas M. Madruga

Madruga serves as general counsel to school districts and as assistant city attorney to several municipalities.

He comes by lawyering naturally; his late father Edward K. Madruga was a long-time sole practitioner in Indio. “He had an old traditional practice, doing criminal defense and personal injury cases and a lot more besides,” Madruga said. “I worked at his office in the summers. I got a lot of experience. I was drafting pleadings at age 17, and I helped prepare his page-line summaries for cross examinations.”

So when Madruga got to law school at Notre Dame University, “I aced trial advocacy, though I wouldn’t say the academics were a snap. It was the practical part I was familiar with.”

Madruga practices mostly defense work, but like his father he can go on offense for plaintiffs. He successfully represented the Compton Unified School District in the groundbreaking litigation that challenged use of the SAT and ACT admissions exams in the state public school system. Smith v. Regents of the University of California, RG19046222 (Alameda Co. Super. Ct., filed Dec. 10, 2019).

The complaint, filed with Public Counsel Law Center and other firms representing four students and six community organizations, alleged that such testing violated the Constitution’s equal protection clause plus civil rights and disability protections under California law. Alameda County Superior Court Judge Brad S. Seligman overruled the defendants’ demurrer and in August 2020 granted a preliminary injunction against use of the tests for admissions and scholarship determination while the lawsuit was pending. The defendants’ appeals failed and the regents settled, agreeing to cease use of the SAT and ACT scores and to pay $1.25 million in legal fees.

Madruga represented defendants in a class action that alleged California special education students were deprived of their educational rights due to pandemic restrictions. Martinez v. Newsom, 5:20-cv-01796 (C.D. Cal., filed Aug. 31, 2020).

U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson dismissed the matter in November 2020 due to the plaintiffs’ failure to exhaust administrative remedies under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. It is on appeal at the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

“Everyone’s rights were tabled somewhat because the need to keep people healthy trumped other rights for a time,” said Madruga, whose clients were the California School Risk Management Joint Powers Authority and the Ventura County School Self-Funding Authority.

Beyond litigation, Madruga enjoys mentoring younger litigators. “There’s a lot of talent out there,” he said.

- John Roemer