OLRS files brief in case involving a school district
suing the family's special education attorney for attorney fees
The case of Amherst Exempted Village School District Board of Education v. Calabrese, et al. in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio concerns very important issues for children with disabilities and their families in the state of Ohio. The question presented is: when should a court order counsel for parents of children with disabilities to pay the school district's attorneys' fees in any case brought by the parents under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)? Attorneys' fees are generally awarded to parents who succeed in an action under the IDEA, but in 2004 Congress added additional provisions which would permit an award of attorneys' fees to school districts which succeed and where the parents' claim was frivolous or brought for an improper purpose.
The school district filed a motion for summary judgment in the case on February 18, 2008, and Ohio Legal Rights Service filed a brief on March 12, 2008 as Amicus Curiae (friend of the court), asking for a narrow interpretation of the attorneys' fees provisions. A narrow ruling from the Court would be consistent with congressional intent and clear public policy and would avoid the chilling effect on parents' attorneys and parents who have legitimate claims for violations of the IDEA. Congress made it clear in enacting these new provisions that attorneys' fees should be awarded against parents and their attorneys rarely and only in the most extreme cases. Furthermore, any expansive interpretation of the attorneys' fees provision would harm families, who already experience great difficulty in locating available and affordable counsel to pursue claims under the IDEA.
Read the motion for leave: Motion for Leave to File Amicus Brief in Response to Plaintiffs Motion for Summary Judgment (PDF file)
Read the brief filed by OLRS: Brief of the Ohio Legal Rights Service as Amicus Curiae (PDF file)
Note: To view and print PDF documents, you need to have Adobe® Reader®, a free software program, installed on your computer. Download Adobe® Reader®
Article posted March 14, 2008
Related Topics:
