California OAH special education order · June 19, 2013
Order Denying Motion to Dismiss
OAH Case No. 2013060425 · ALJ Judith Pasewark
OAH denied Twin Rivers' motion to dismiss on statute-of-limitations grounds because, after Student amended to plead an exception, the motion became a summary judgment request requiring a ruling on the merits.
This case went to decision
Student v. Marysville Joint Unified School District: Marysville Joint Unified withheld required age-of-majority notice, so a former foster youth may pursue claims from her 18th birthday forward. (2014)
Summary
Twin Rivers moved to dismiss itself from Student's complaint. It argued the events alleged against it happened more than two years earlier and the complaint did not plead an exception to the statute of limitations. Before OAH ruled, Student was allowed to amend the complaint to add allegations addressing the limitations issue. OAH denied the motion because special education law has no summary judgment procedure, and the motion now required deciding the limitations question on the merits, which must happen at hearing.
Why it matters
A district cannot use a motion to dismiss to knock out claims on statute-of-limitations grounds once the complaint pleads facts supporting an exception. That fact-based question is decided at hearing. Parents facing such a motion can amend to plead an exception.
Topics
Full text of the order
Published text of the OAH order. Page headers and numbers from the original PDF have been dropped.
BEFORE THE
OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS
STATE OF CALIFORNIA
In the Matter of:
PARENT ON BEHALF OF STUDENT, OAH CASE NO. 2013060425
v. ORDER DENYING MOTION TO
DISMISS
MARYSVILLE JOINT UNION SCHOOL
DISTRICT AND TWIN RIVERS UNIFIED
SCHOOL DISTRICT.
On June 5, 2013, Parent on behalf of Student (Student) filed a Request for Due Process Hearing (complaint) naming Marysville Joint Union School District and Twin Rivers Unified School District (Twin Rivers). On June 13, 2013, Twin Rivers filed a Motion to Dismiss itself from the complaint alleging the events alleged in the complaint against Twin Rivers occurred over two years ago and the complaint did not allege an exception to the statute of limitations. Prior to ruling on this motion, Student filed a Motion to Amend the complaint in order to add specific allegations to address the issue of the statute of limitations.
On June 20, 2012, Student’s Motion to Amend was granted.
Although OAH will grant motions to dismiss allegations that are facially outside of OAH jurisdiction (e.g., civil rights claims, section 504 claims, enforcement of settlement agreements, incorrect parties, etc…..), special education law does not provide for a summary judgment procedure. Here, upon the granting of the amended complaint, Twin Rivers’ Motion is reduced to one of summary judgment on the statute of limitations issue, which requires a ruling on the merits. Accordingly, the motion is denied. All dates as set by the amended complaint in this matter are confirmed.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
Dated: June 19, 2013 /s/
JUDITH PASEWARK
Administrative Law Judge Office of Administrative Hearings