California OAH special education order · June 24, 2016
Order Granting Request to Reopen Case and Setting Status Conference
OAH Case No. 2016050149 · ALJ Peter Paul Castillo
OAH reopened Student's case against San Ysidro School District because Student's counsel mistakenly asked for a dismissal with prejudice instead of vacating hearing dates while a settlement awaited board approval.
Summary
Student's counsel filed a request to dismiss the case with prejudice, and OAH dismissed the case the same day. The next day, Student asked OAH to reopen the case. Counsel explained that the request was filed by mistake: the parties had reached a settlement pending school board approval, and counsel only meant to ask OAH to vacate the hearing dates. San Ysidro did not respond, and OAH found the request timely and granted it, setting a telephonic status conference for July 27, 2016, after the July 14 board meeting.
Why it matters
Parents should not dismiss a case with prejudice until a district settlement has actually been approved by the school board, because a dismissal with prejudice could end the claims if the deal falls through. A fast, timely request can undo a mistaken dismissal filing.
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. 2016050149 v. ORDER GRANTING REQUEST TO
REOPEN CASE AND SETTING
SAN YSIDRO SCHOOL DISTRICT. STATUS CONFERENCE
On June 21, 2016, Student filed a request that the Office of Administrative Hearings reopen the above-titled case on the grounds that Student’s legal counsel erroneously filed a request to dismiss this matter with prejudice on June 20, 2016, upon which OAH issued a dismissal order that day, instead of requesting that OAH vacate the hearing dates because the parties had reached a settlement agreement pending school board approval. San Ysidro School District did not submit a response.
Therefore request to reopen the case is timely and granted based upon Student’s counsel sending the incorrect request in this matter. It is anticipated that the settlement agreement will be discussed at the next school board meeting on July 14, 2016. Accordingly, this matter is calendared for a telephonic status conference on July 27, 2016, at 11:15 a.m.
It is expected that upon confirmation of board approval, the party that requested the due process hearing will file a notice of withdrawal with OAH so that the status conference can be taken off calendar and the matter closed.
IT IS ORDERED
DATE: June 24, 2016
PETER PAUL CASTILLO
Presiding Administrative Law Judge Office of Administrative Hearings