California OAH special education order · May 19, 2020
Order Regarding Closing Briefs
OAH Case No. 2019110294 · ALJ Linda Johnson
OAH refused to consider Garvey's written opening statement that its closing brief tried to incorporate by reference. OAH never received the statement, and the ALJ had allowed only a single closing brief of up to 20 pages.
This case went to decision
Garvey School District v. Student: Garvey School District must fund independent psychoeducational and speech-language evaluations after failing to prove its assessments were appropriate. (2020)
Summary
After a video due process hearing, Garvey's closing brief tried to incorporate by reference a written opening statement that Garvey said it had mailed to OAH. Neither OAH nor Student's attorneys ever received it. Garvey learned this on the first day of hearing and chose not to supplement the record. The ALJ ruled that only Garvey's closing brief would be considered, because the opening statement was never in the record and the ALJ had authorized a single closing brief of no more than 20 pages, not multiple documents.
Why it matters
A party cannot get around OAH's page limits by incorporating other documents by reference. Anything a party wants considered must actually reach OAH and the other side and be properly placed in the record.
People named in the order
- Alma Ulloa, Garvey Special Education Director
- Sharon Watt, Attorney for Garvey School District
- Valerie Vanaman, Attorney for Student
- Sophia Bliziotis, Attorney for Student
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:
GARVEY SCHOOL DISTRICT,
v.
PARENT ON BEHALF OF STUDENT.
OAH CASE NUMBER 2019110294
ORDER REGARDING CLOSING BRIEFS
MAY 19, 2020
On April 28, 29, and 30, 2020, Administrative Law Judge Linda Johnson held a due process hearing by video conference. The Administrative Law Judge is referred to as the ALJ. Attorney Sharon Watt represented Garvey School District. Alma Ulloa, Garvey’s Special Education Director, attended on Garvey’s behalf. Attorneys Valerie Vanaman and Sophia Bliziotis represented Student. Parents attended on Student’s behalf.
At the beginning of the hearing Garvey represented it submitted a written opening statement to the Office of Administrative Hearings, referred to as OAH.
Student’s attorneys had not received a copy of the opening statement nor had OAH.
Garvey represented that it mailed the opening statement to OAH. The undersigned ALJ informed Garvey that it could read its opening statement into the record but the written opening statement would not be considered.
At the conclusion of the hearing the undersigned ALJ continued the hearing at Garvey’s request to May 15, 2020, for closing briefs. In Garvey’s closing brief it purported to incorporate by reference its written opening statement rather than repeat the information. OAH did not receive a written opening statement from Garvey. Garvey was aware of this on the first day of hearing and chose not to supplement the record by providing the written opening statement. Furthermore, the undersigned ALJ ordered the parties to submit a closing brief of no more than 20 pages, not inclusive of tables of contents or tables of authorities. The undersigned ALJ did not authorize multiple documents for closing briefs. Therefore, only Garvey’s closing brief will be considered, not its written opening statement.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
Linda Johnson Administrative Law Judge Office of Administrative Hearings