California OAH special education order · March 29, 2023
Order Denying Clovis Unified School District's Request for Reconsideration
OAH Case No. 2023020131 · ALJ Marlo Nisperos
OAH denied Clovis's request to reconsider a continuance order because the settlement depended on court approval of a minor's compromise, not just a board meeting, so automatic vacating of hearing dates was unavailable.
Summary
Clovis asked OAH to reconsider its March 21, 2023 order continuing the hearing. Clovis wanted OAH instead to vacate the hearing dates and set an automatic dismissal 90 to 120 days after the district's board meeting. Student did not respond. OAH denied the request because Clovis offered no new facts, circumstances, or law, and because the vacate-and-auto-dismiss procedure applies only when settlement awaits board approval on a set date, while this settlement also depended on approval of a minor's compromise.
Why it matters
When a settlement depends on court approval of a minor's compromise, OAH will not vacate hearing dates and set an automatic dismissal. Parties must instead seek continuances and then request dismissal once the compromise is approved.
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:
PARENTS ON BEHALF OF STUDENT,
v.
CLOVIS UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT.
OAH CASE NUMBER 2023020131
ORDER DENYING CLOVIS UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT’S
REQUEST FOR RECONSIDERATION
MARCH 29, 2023
On March 21, 2023, the undersigned Administrative Law Judge issued an Order Granting Request for Reconsideration and Granting Motion to Continue Due Process Hearing as to Clovis Unified School District. Amongst other orders made, the Order continued the non-expedited prehearing conference and due process hearing. On March 24, 2023, Clovis Unified School District filed Clovis Unified School District’s Request for Reconsideration of OAH Order. The Office of Administrative Hearings, called OAH, did not receive a response from Student.
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, generally within ten days. (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
Clovis’ request offers no new facts, circumstances or law to support reconsideration. Clovis requested OAH re-establish its order vacating the hearing dates for the non-expedited hearing and extend the time by which this matter will be dismissed to 90-120 days after the district’s scheduled board meeting. Clovis’ request for reconsideration is denied.
The provision for vacating due process hearing dates pending board approval and setting an automatic dismissal date is limited to that circumstance. In that case, there is a date certain provided for the board meeting. The instant case doesn’t meet that criteria. Here, the settlement is contingent not on board approval alone but on execution of the minor’s compromise. Accordingly, the process of automatically vacating hearing dates is not available. However, to accommodate the parties’ desire to settle the matter without a hearing, OAH considered Student’s request for reconsideration as a motion to continue which is the only available vehicle in this instance to vacate the existing hearing dates. Should the minor’s compromised be approved, Student can request the matter be dismissed and the hearing dates will be vacated at that time.
ORDER
Clovis has not established the March 21, 2023 Order should be reconsidered. The motion for reconsideration is denied. All dates set in this matter are confirmed.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
Marlo Nisperos Administrative Law Judge Office of Administrative Hearings