California OAH special education order · May 14, 2025
Order Resetting Applicable Timelines Based on the Amended Complaint; Order Denying Request to Consolidate Initial Complaint With Amended Complaint; Notice of No Action on Mill Valley Unified's Notice of Insufficiency Filed May 13, 2025
OAH Case No. 2025040955 · ALJ Rommel P. Cruz
OAH denied Student's request to treat the original and amended complaints as one, because an amended complaint replaces the earlier complaint. OAH also reset hearing timelines and took no action on the District's insufficiency notice.
Summary
After OAH found Student's original complaint only partly sufficient, Student filed a May 13, 2025 Amended Complaint and then asked OAH to treat the April 21, 2025 initial complaint and the amended complaint as one complaint. OAH denied the request. It explained that its earlier order told Student to list every hearing issue in the body of the complaint, and that an amended complaint replaces any earlier complaint rather than adding to it. OAH reset the hearing timelines based on the amended complaint, took no action on Mill Valley Unified's earlier insufficiency notice, and gave the District 15 days from May 13, 2025 to challenge the new amended complaint.
Why it matters
An amended due process complaint fully replaces the original, so families must restate every issue they want heard in the amended complaint itself. Filing an amendment also restarts the hearing timelines and gives the district a new window to challenge sufficiency.
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.
MILL VALLEY SCHOOL DISTRICT.
OAH CASE NUMBER 2025040955
ORDER RESETTING APPLICABLE TIMELINES BASED ON THE
AMENDED COMPLAINT; ORDER DENYING REQUEST TO
CONSOLIDATE INITIAL COMPLAINT WITH AMENDED
COMPLAINT; NOTICE OF NO ACTION ON MILL VALLEY
UNIFIED’S NOTICE OF INSUFFICIENCY FILED MAY 13, 2025
MAY 14, 2025
On May 7, 2025, Parents on behalf of Student filed with the Office of Administrative Hearings, called OAH, a 32-page document dated April 21, 2025, describing problems and listing issues. OAH considered the 32-page document as an amended due process hearing request, called an amended complaint, filed by Student in response to OAH’s April 29, 2025, Order Determining Due Process Complaint Partially Sufficient, referred to as the April 29, 2025, Order. The April 29, 2025, Order granted Student leave to file an amended complaint within 14 days of the Order. OAH issued a new scheduling order on May 7, 2025, with new prehearing conference and due process hearing dates. On May 13, 2025, Mill Valley Unified School District filed a Notice of Insufficiency as to what OAH considered as an amended complaint.
On May 13, 2025, following Mill Valley Unified’s Notice of Insufficiency, Student filed with OAH an Amended Due Process Complaint, referred to as the May 13, 2025 Amended Complaint. The May 13, 2025 Amended Complaint clarified that the May 13, 2025 Amended Complaint was an amendment of the initial complaint filed on April 21, 2025, and was filed by Student in response to the April 29, 2025 Order. Accordingly, the filing of the May 13, 2025 Amended Complaint resets the applicable timelines for due process hearing. OAH will issue a new scheduling order with new dates.
On May 14, 2025, Student filed a Notice of Consolidated Complaint Record requesting the initial complaint filed on April 21, 2025, and the May 13, 2025 Amended Complaint be deemed one complaint. The April 29, 2025 Order instructed Student to list all issues to be decided at hearing within the body of the complaint. Further, an amended complaint replaces any prior filed complaint and is not in addition to an earlier filed complaint. Therefore, Student’s request to consolidate the April 21, 2025 initial complaint with the May 13, 2025 Amended Complaint is denied. This matter will proceed only as to the May 13, 2025 Amended Complaint.
As a result, Mill Valley Unified will have 15 days from May 13, 2025, to file a Notice of Insufficiency as to the May 13, 2025 Amended Complaint. Therefore, OAH will take no action on Mill Valley Unified’s Notice of Insufficiency filed on May 13, 2025.
ORDER
1. The May 13, 2025 Amended Complaint will reset the applicable timelines for a
due process hearing. OAH will issue a schedule order with new dates.
2. Student’s request to consolidate the initial complaint filed on April 21, 2025,
with the May 13, 2025 Amended Complaint is denied.
3. OAH will take no action on Mill Valley Unified’s Notice of Insufficiency filed
May 13, 2025.
4. Mill Valley Unified will have 15 days from May 13, 2025, to file a Notice of
Insufficiency as to the May 13, 2025 Amended Complaint.
Rommel P. Cruz Administrative Law Judge Office of Administrative Hearings