California OAH special education order · November 20, 2017
Order Denying Request for Reconsideration
OAH Case No. 2017081269 · ALJ Linda Johnson
OAH denied Student's request to reconsider the denial of a motion to amend because Student offered no new facts, circumstances, or law, even though District did not oppose the amendment.
Summary
Student asked OAH to reconsider its November 16, 2017 order denying, without prejudice, Student's motion to amend the complaint. Student argued the amendment was timely and that District did not oppose it. District said at the prehearing conference that it did not oppose either the amendment or the reconsideration request. The ALJ denied reconsideration because timeliness and lack of opposition were not new facts. The amendment had been denied because the amended complaint only rearranged existing allegations and raised no new facts or issues.
Why it matters
A request for reconsideration must show new or different facts, circumstances, or law. Even an unopposed, timely amendment can be denied if it only reorganizes existing claims, so an amended complaint should clearly add new facts or issues.
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. 2017081269 v. ORDER DENYING REQUEST FOR
RECONSIDERATION
SAN DIEGO UNIFIED SCHOOL
DISTRICT.
On November 16, 2017, the undersigned administrative law judge issued an order that denied without prejudice Student’s motion to amend the complaint. On November 17, 2017, Student filed a request for reconsideration. On November 17, 2017, District stated during the prehearing conference that it did not oppose the motion to amend or request for reconsideration.
APPLICABLE LAW
The Office of Administrative Hearings 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 Student alleges no new facts, circumstances, or law in support of the request for reconsideration. Student argues the motion to amend must be granted because it was timely and District does not oppose it. Although Student is correct in that the motion to amend was timely and District did not oppose the motion, neither of these are new facts. The reason why Student’s motion to amend was denied was due to the fact that nothing new was alleged in the amended complaint and Student fails to demonstrate that there were new facts or issues in the amended complaint versus just rearranging the allegations.
Accordingly, Student’s request for reconsideration is denied.
ORDER
1) Student’s request for reconsideration is denied.
DATE: November 20, 2017
LINDA JOHNSON
Administrative Law Judge Office of Administrative Hearings