Chief Judge Kozinski, on behalf of Ninth Circuit, Clarifies IDEA Fee Recovery Provision As to Defendants.
R.P. v. Prescott Unified School Dist., Case Nos. 09-15651/09-16786 (9th Cir. Feb. 4, 2011) (for publication) involved a situation where a district court affirmed an ALJ’s determinations in a parent-commenced suit on behalf of a child claiming child was denied a free appropriate public education and then dismissed the remaining allegations in the complaint. The district judge then found the action was without foundation and brought for an improper purpose, awarding school district about $140,000 in attorney’s fees and costs against parents and their attorneys under 20 U.S.C. § 1415(i)(3)(B)(i)(II), (III). Losing parties appealed.
Chief Judge Kozinski, writing on behalf of a 3-0 panel of the Ninth Circuit, reversed the fee award against parents and their attorneys.
With respect to the “without foundation” fee award under (II), the Ninth Circuit began by observing that IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) fashioned the (II) fee statute after the stringent § 1988 standard in Christiansburg Garment Co. v. EEOC, 434 U.S. 412, 421-422 (1978) and fashioned the (III) fee statute after F.R.Civ. P. 11. In this case, parents did make plausible arguments for equitable relief under both their IDEA and non-IDEA claims. The fact they did not prevail hardly warranted fee recovery, with such hindsight logic deterring attorneys from taking IDEA cases in contravention of the legislative purpose behind IDEA.
On the “improper purpose” (III) fee ground, Judge Kozinski stated that recovery against parents required findings of both frivolousness and improper purpose, while only frivolousness need be demonstrated against plaintiffs’ attorneys. The district court relied on parents’ anger as the anchor for its fee award, but the Ninth Circuit found this was not an improper motive under (III). The IDEA and non-IDEA related claims also were not frivolousness in nature.
Although parents sought fees on appeal, they did not get them. After all, they did not prevail on the merits of the IDEA claims. Fee award reversed, with no costs awarded to either side.