Robert Adams, the former private school principal whose child molestation case resumes Dec. 20 in Sacramento Superior Court, is facing a growing number of legal and financial challenges as a result of the allegations.

The company that insured Adams since 2004 against child abuse claims is now suing to rescind its insurance policy, saying Adams failed to inform the firm that he had been the subject of previous allegations that invalidate it.

"The failure to disclose prior allegations of sexual abuse against Mr. Adams were material misrepresentations under the California Insurance Code …, " the Stonington Insurance Co. wrote in a civil suit filed Dec. 1 at the Sacramento courthouse.

Additionally, two families that once sent children to his Creative Frontiers School in Citrus Heights have filed small claims seeking repayment of tuition they paid before the school was closed in July.

Adams, 60, faces six felony counts of lewd and lascivious acts with a child under 14 and one misdemeanor count of annoying or molesting a child under 18.

He has insisted he is not guilty, but state and local authorities shut down the private K-6 school and preschool he and his family had run since 1975. The property is now for sale and efforts to reopen the school or transfer the license to the fiancé of one of Adams' daughters have failed.

The city rejected an application in October by Zsolt Benedek to assume control of the Creative Frontiers business license.

Adams also had appealed the revocation of his school's business license, but hearings on that appeal have been at a standstill since his attorneys notified the city, also in October, that they were unavailable through June 15, 2012.

Adams, who is out of custody on $250,000 bail, had been barred from going onto school property until that provision was modified last month. He is now allowed on school grounds as long as it is closed and another adult is present. He is not allowed to have contact with any child who might be present.

The insurance company's suit is one of two civil suits Adams faces as a result of the abuse allegations.

A former student, identified as "Jane Doe 45" and one of the seven alleged victims in the criminal case, sued in September accusing Adams of "illegal, harmful and offensive sexual contact" with the girl.

Stonington, the insurance company, contends in part that it should not have to cover Adams because an arrest warrant notes he was the target of child molestation allegations as early as 1996.

The insurance company's suit states the "arrest warrant specifically indicates that at least two of the victims reported the alleged sexual molestation and inappropriate touching to law enforcement authorities in the calendar year 2000."

Under terms of the school's insurance policy, Adams was required to disclose annually any prior allegations of abuse, and on each application "these inquiries were answered by the insureds uniformly in the negative," the suit states.

Joseph George, the attorney for "Jane Doe 45," said he expects to dismiss the lawsuit and refile it after criminal proceedings against Adams have concluded.

"Basically, we do not want to give Adams' attorneys an opportunity to conduct discovery to assist them in their criminal defense," George said in an email response to queries from The Bee. "We will re-file after the conclusion of the criminal trial."

George added that he probably will file another civil suit on behalf of an alleged victim who is not among the ones included in the criminal case.

Adams also faces claims from two parents who want their money back from tuition they paid to send their children to summer school.

One parent says in court papers that she paid $1,767.50 on June 10 for 50 days of summer school but is owed $831.60 because the closure of the school left her child without access to classes for 24 of those days.

A second parent says she paid $720 for her son to attend the school through July and is owed $309.51 because "the school was no longer able to provide care for my son."

Linda Parisi, Adams' criminal attorney, has said repeatedly that Adams intends to repay tuition owed to parents but that he has been unable to access financial records because the school's computers were seized by investigators last summer.

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