California OAH special education order · April 6, 2015

Order Granting Request for Official Notice and Requiring Further Motion to Be Filed by April 8, 2015

OAH Case No. 2015010519 · ALJ Kara Hatfield

OAH took official notice of a prior 2013 OAH decision only to evaluate collateral estoppel, and ordered District to file a written motion defining the preclusive effect it seeks.

Granted Evidence and witnesses

This case went to decision

Lawndale Elementary School District v. Student: Lawndale Elementary School District's five triennial assessments upheld; the district does not have to fund independent evaluations. (2013)

Summary

District asked OAH to take judicial notice of an October 31, 2013 OAH decision about District's 2013 assessments of Student. Student's advocate did not oppose. OAH treated the request as one for official notice and rejected District's cited grounds: Government Code section 11515 does not apply to special education hearings, and OAH decisions are not the kind of indisputable common knowledge covered by Evidence Code sections 451(f) and 452(g) and (h). OAH instead took official notice under Evidence Code section 451(a), only so it could evaluate collateral estoppel, and ordered District to file a written motion by April 8, 2015 stating exactly what preclusive effect it wants, to be argued on the first day of hearing.

Why it matters

A party that wants to use an earlier OAH decision to block re-litigation of an issue must file a specific collateral estoppel motion; simply asking OAH to notice the earlier decision is not enough. Parents facing such a request should be ready to challenge how far the earlier ruling actually reaches.

Key authority cited

Evid. Code § 451(a)
Evid. Code § 451(f)
Evid. Code § 452(g), (h)
Gov. Code § 11515

Topics

official notice collateral estoppel issue preclusion prior oah decision assessments evidence

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:

LAWNDALE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL OAH CASE NO. 2015010519

DISTRICT,

ORDER GRANTING REQUEST FOR

v. OFFICIAL NOTICE AND REQUIRING

FURTHER MOTION TO BE FILED BY

PARENT ON BEHALF OF STUDENT. APRIL 8, 2015

On March 25, 2015, District filed a Request for Judicial Notice, which OAH deems to be a Request for Official Notice, of the October 31, 2013 decision in OAH Case No.

2013070160.

During the telephonic prehearing conference of April 3, 2015, Student’s advocate indicated he did not oppose the Request for Official Notice.

District based its Request for Official Notice on Government Code section 11515 and Evidence Code sections 451, subdivision (f), and 452, subdivisions (g) and (h). Due process hearings authorized by the California Department of Education are not conducted pursuant the Government Code section 11500 et seq., and section 11515 is not applicable to the cases OAH hears under the Education Code and related California Code of Regulations provisions.

Also, OAH decisions are not “facts and propositions of generalized knowledge that are so universally known that they cannot reasonably be the subject of dispute,” “facts and propositions that are of such common knowledge within the territorial jurisdiction of the court that they cannot reasonably be the subject of dispute,” or “facts and propositions that are not reasonably subject to dispute and are capable of immediate and accurate determination by resort to sources of reasonably indisputable accuracy. (Evid. Code, §§ 451(f), 452(g) and (h).)

District’s Request for Official Notice indicates, without specifically stating the concept by name, that District seeks to avoid re-litigating the question of the appropriateness of District’s 2013 assessments of Student and to collaterally estop Student from defending one procedural aspect of District’s current case regarding the 2014 Individualized Educational Program District offered Student. For the limited purpose of evaluating a request for collateral estoppel, OAH will take official notice of the October 31, 2013 decision in OAH Case No. 2013070160 pursuant to Evidence Code section 451, subdivision (a).

If District seeks a determination regarding collateral estoppel/issue preclusion, District is ordered to file and serve a written motion specifying the precise contours of the preclusive effect District seeks from the October 31, 2013 decision in OAH Case No. 2013070160 no later than 4:59 p.m. on April 8, 2015. District and Student shall be prepared to argue any motion on the first day of hearing.