California OAH special education order · July 1, 2019
Order Granting Motion Excluding Evidence Outside the Record and Not Considering New Issues
OAH Case No. 2019040042 · ALJ Theresa Ravandi
OAH granted Golden Plains' motion and will disregard parts of Student's closing brief that cite evidence not admitted at hearing or raise new issues, because the record closed May 30, 2019.
This case went to decision
Student v. Golden Plains Unified School District: Golden Plains Unified must fund two IEEs, 29 counseling hours, and 54.5 tutoring hours after assessment and goal failures. (2019)
Summary
After the due process hearing ended, Golden Plains filed a motion to strike parts of Student's written closing brief, which OAH treated as a motion to exclude evidence outside the record and not consider new issues. Golden Plains argued the brief relied on information never admitted into evidence and tried to raise new issues and a new remedy. Student opposed. OAH granted the motion: because the evidentiary record closed May 30, 2019, it will not consider unadmitted information or new claims, and the issues remain those in the May 20, 2019 prehearing conference order as amended at hearing on May 29, 2019.
Why it matters
Closing briefs cannot add evidence or new claims. Every document and issue a family wants considered must be admitted into evidence or identified as an issue before the record closes.
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,
v.
GOLDEN PLAINS UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT.
OAH CASE NUMBER 2019040042
ORDER GRANTING MOTION EXCLUDING EVIDENCE OUTSIDE THE
RECORD AND NOT CONSIDERING NEW ISSUES
On May 30, 2019, at the conclusion of the due process hearing, the undersigned administrative law judge granted the parties’ request to continue this matter to June 20, 2019, for them to file written closing briefs. The parties timely filed their closing briefs.
On June 25, 2019, Golden Plains Unified School District filed a motion to strike portions of Student’s closing brief on the grounds that it referred to information not admitted into evidence and not relevant to the issues, and attempted to raise new issues and a new remedy. This motion is deemed a motion to exclude evidence outside the record, and not consider new issues. On June 27, 2019, Student filed an opposition to Golden Plains’ motion.
The evidentiary record closed on May 30, 2019. To the extent Student’s closing brief references information and cites to documents for factual assertions that were not admitted into evidence at hearing, or attempts to raise new claims, these will not be considered. The issues remain as identified in the Order Following Prehearing Conference issued on May 20, 2019, as amended at hearing on May 29, 2019.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
DATE: July 1, 2019 Theresa Ravandi Administrative Law Judge Office of Administrative Hearings