California OAH special education order · March 10, 2016
Order Granting Request for Reconsideration; Vacating Hearing Dates of March 29 and 30, 2016
OAH Case No. 2015090427 · ALJ Peter Paul Castillo
OAH granted District's reconsideration request and vacated the March 29 and 30, 2016 hearing dates because District's earlier continuance request had shown it would be on break and its witnesses out of town.
Summary
District asked for a continuance at the prehearing conference, and Student opposed it as late and lacking good cause. OAH partly granted the continuance and set hearing dates that included March 29 and 30, 2016. District then asked for reconsideration because those dates fell during its school break. OAH granted the request, noting District's original continuance request had already said District would be on break and its witnesses would be out of town. The two March dates were vacated, the hearing was set to begin April 5, 2016, at 9:30 a.m., and the parties were ordered to meet and confer on more hearing dates.
Why it matters
OAH may correct a scheduling order when it overlooked facts already in a party's request, such as a district break when witnesses are unavailable. Parents should expect that hearing dates set during documented district breaks may be moved.
Key authority cited
- Gov. Code, § 11521
- Code Civ. Proc., § 1008
- Baldwin v. Home Savings of America (1997) 59 Cal.App.4th 1192
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. 2015090427 v. ORDER GRANTING REQUEST FOR
RECONSIDERATION; VACATING
COLTON JOINT UNIFIED SCHOOL HEARING DATES OF MARCH 29
DISTRICT. AND 30, 2016
On March 4, 2016, legal counsel for Colton Joint Unified School District made an oral motion for a continuance at the prehearing conference, claiming the unavailability of District personnel and counsel at various times during March 2016. District filed a written motion two days later, at 10:00 p.m., with the Office of Administrative Hearings. On March 8, 2016, Student opposed the request based upon the lateness of District’s request and failure to establish good cause to continue this hearing for six weeks.
On March 9, 2016, the undersigned administrative law judge issued an order that granted in part District’s continuance request and set the matter for hearing on March 29 and 30, 2016, and April 5, 6 and 7, 2016. On March 10, 2016, District filed a request for reconsideration as District will be on break from March 21, 2016 through April 1, 2014.
APPLICABLE LAW
OAH will generally reconsider a ruling upon a showing of new or different facts, circumstances, or law justifying reconsideration, when the party seeks reconsideration within a reasonable period of time. (See, e.g., Gov. Code, § 11521; Code Civ. Proc., § 1008.) The party seeking reconsideration may also be required to provide an explanation for its failure to previously provide the different facts, circumstances or law. (See Baldwin v. Home Savings of America (1997) 59 Cal.App.4th 1192, 1199-1200.)
DISCUSSION
Reconsideration is appropriate as the information provided in District’s March 7, 2016 continuance request did state that District would be on break from March 21, 2016 through April 1, 2014, and that District witnesses had informed District’s legal counsel of plans to be out of town during this period. Therefore, reconsideration is granted and the hearing dates of March 29 and 30, 2016, are vacated. The hearing will commence on April 5, 2016, at 9:30 a.m., and the parties are ordered to meet and confer as to other available hearing dates to present to the Administrative Law Judge at the commencement of the hearing.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
DATE: March 10, 2016
PETER PAUL CASTILLO
Presiding Administrative Law Judge Office of Administrative Hearings