Plaintiff’s Case Was Hardly Frivolous.
In the “Civil Rights” category, we have explored cases under the federal statutory scheme known as Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which does have a fee shifting provision allowing an award of fees to a defendant where a plaintiff continues to litigate after the litigation clearly became frivolous, unreasonable, or without foundation. (20 U.S.C. §1415(i)(3)(B)(1)(II).) This next section was in play, but resulted in a remand.
Plaintiffs in A.M. v. Monrovia Unified School Dist., Case No. 09-55169 (9th Cir. Dec. 15, 2010) (for publication) suffered summary judgment against a school district on an IDEA violation. Plaintiffs claimed reimbursement of expenses for minor’s caring at home when he should have been cared for at school. The district judge awarded attorney’s fees to defendant and against plaintiffs’ counsel in the amount of $49,245 on the ground that A.M.’s death mooted the case and plaintiffs should not have continued the litigation after it became moot.
Result on appeal? Split decision.
The majority, in a decision authored by Circuit Judge Goodwin, remanded the fee determination because (1) the Ninth Circuit addressed an issue of first impression on appeal such that its determination could hardly taint the IDEA issue as being frivolous in nature or moot, and (2) the district judge did not address defendant’s issue that the reimbursement issue was waived because plaintiffs did not present it before the administrative agency (a pre-district court stage).
In dissent, District Judge Bennett (N.D. Iowa), sitting by designation, would have reversed the fee award completely based on the conclusion that plaintiffs did not waive the reimbursement claim before either the administrative agency or the district court.