California OAH special education order · December 2, 2014
Order Granting District's Motion to Strike Amended Appendix B to Student's Closing Brief
OAH Case No. 2014050208, 2014041256 · ALJ Alexa J. Hohensee
OAH struck Student's Amended Appendix B to the closing brief because it was filed late and improperly tried to add new evidence of private program costs after the hearing closed.
This case went to decision
Student v. Downey Unified School District (consolidated): Downey Unified must reimburse $9,324.80 for summer Lindamood-Bell after an unclear 2013 ESY offer; all other claims denied. (2014)
Summary
After the hearing ended on October 20, 2014, the parties had until November 10, 2014 to file closing briefs. On November 12, 2014, Student filed an "Amended Appendix B" to the closing brief, and District moved to strike it the same day. Student opposed the motion. OAH granted the motion because the filing was untimely and appeared to be an improper attempt to add evidence of the cost of Student's privately funded programs to the record, rather than argument.
Why it matters
Closing briefs are for argument, not new evidence. Proof of reimbursement costs, such as private program expenses, must be put into the record during the hearing, and post-hearing filings must meet the deadline.
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 Consolidated Matters of:
PARENT ON BEHALF OF STUDENT, OAH CASE NO. 2014050208
v.
DOWNEY UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT,
DOWNEY UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT, OAH CASE NO. 2014041256
v.
ORDER GRANTING DISTRICT’S
PARENT ON BEHALF OF STUDENT. MOTION TO STRIKE AMENDED
APPENDIX B TO STUDENT’S
CLOSING BRIEF
On November 12, 2014, Student filed an “Amended Appendix B” to Student’s closing brief. On November 12, 2014, Downey Unified School District filed a motion to strike Amended Appendix B. On November 17, 2014, Student filed a response opposing District’s motion.
On the last day of hearing in this matter, October 20, 2014, the hearing was continued to November 10, 2014 for the parties to file closing briefs. This order gave the parties three full weeks to prepare their closing arguments.
Student’s Amended Appendix B was untimely filed. In addition, Amended Appendix B appears to be an improper attempt to supplement the record with evidence of the cost of Student’s privately funded programs, rather than argument to assist the administrative law judge in making findings of fact and conclusions of law.
Accordingly, District’s motion to strike is granted.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
DATE: December 2, 2014
/ S/
ALEXA J. HOHENSEE
Administrative Law Judge Office of Administrative Hearings