California OAH special education order · March 6, 2019
Order Granting Request for Reconsideration and Rescheduling Due Process Hearing Dates
OAH Case No. 2019020163, 2019020610 · ALJ Joy Redmon
OAH granted Larkspur-Corte Madera's reconsideration request and restored the original hearing dates because its earlier order mistakenly moved the hearing earlier instead of later, and district counsel was unavailable on the new dates.
Summary
OAH had granted a request for mediation and continued the hearing dates. Larkspur-Corte Madera asked OAH to reconsider and return to the original prehearing conference and hearing dates, saying its counsel was unavailable on the new dates. The ALJ also found an inadvertent error: the earlier order missed that a consolidation order had already set the prehearing conference for April 15, 2019, so the continuance actually moved the hearing earlier. OAH granted reconsideration and reset the case to mediation on March 18, a prehearing conference on April 15, and a hearing starting April 23, 2019.
Why it matters
When a scheduling order conflicts with earlier orders in a consolidated case, a prompt reconsideration request that points out the error and counsel's unavailability can get the dates corrected quickly.
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 Consolidated Matters of:
PARENT ON BEHALF OF STUDENT, OAH Case No. 2019020163 v.
LARKSPUR-CORTE MADERA SCHOOL
DISTRICT,
LARKSPUR-CORTE MADERA SCHOOL OAH Case No. 2019020610
DISTRICT,
v.
ORDER GRANTING REQUEST FOR
PARENT ON BEHALF OF STUDENT. RECONSIDERATION AND
RESCHEDULING DUE PROCESS
HEARING DATES
On March 1, 2019, the undersigned issued an order granting a request for mediation and continuing the due process hearing dates. On March 6, 2019, Larkspur-Corte Madera School District filed a motion for reconsideration seeking to have the prehearing conference and due process hearing dates returned to the originally scheduled dates. Larkspur-Corte Madera’s counsel also established unavailability on the continued hearing dates.
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 Larkspur-Corte Madera asserts counsel unavailability on the currently ordered due process hearing dates. Additionally, the undersigned reviewed the case history and notes here an inadvertent error. The mediation date requested and ordered was in close proximity to a previously scheduled prehearing conference date. The undersigned failed to note that a different order granting consolidation ordered the prehearing conference to commence on April 15, 2019, rather than March 25, 2019. The undersigned’s order advanced rather than extended the due process hearing dates.
Accordingly, Larkspur-Corte Madera’s request for reconsideration is GRANTED.
Motion to Reset Hearing Dates On reconsideration, the undersigned did not intend to advance hearing dates but to have dates scheduled to accommodate mediation, a prehearing conference, and due process hearing dates with sufficient time between. Accordingly, the request to reset the hearing to the previously scheduled dates is GRATNED.
ORDER
1. Motion for Reconsideration is Granted.
2. The matter is now set as follows:
Mediation: March 18, 2019, at 9:30 AM Prehearing conference: April 15, 2019, at 3:00 PM Due process hearing: April 23, 2019, at 9:30 AM, April 24-25, 2019, at 9:00 AM, and continuing day to day thereafter as needed at the discretion of the Administrative Law Judge.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
DATE: March 6, 2019
JOY REDMON
Presiding Administrative Law Judge Office of Administrative Hearings