District of Columbia: District files suit to recover attorney costs
Issue date: 12/14/08 Section: Neighborhood
D.C. Attorney General Peter J. Nickles has filed suit against a private District lawyer, John A. Straus, and his firm, James E. Brown & Associates, to recover the cost for DCPS attorneys' work in meritless special education litigation instituted by Straus.
The suit is the District's first effort to recover legal expenses under the Individual with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), a Federal law amended in 2004 to allow school districts to recover funds from attorneys who initiate baseless special education litigation.
The District's suit alleges that Straus filed an administrative complaint under IDEA seeking a psychiatric evaluation of a District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) student. Straus disregarded the efforts by DCPS which had previously authorized that evaluation, and had also notified the student's parent that she could obtain an evaluation at DCPS' expense.
At a hearing in September, Straus admitted that he made no attempt to obtain the evaluation DCPS had authorized and continued pursuing the litigation to obtain his fees from DCPS. A decision by the Hearing Officer ruled that Straus' conduct represented improper conduct under IDEA.
"While IDEA rightly provides procedures to assure that disabled students receive needed services and accommodations, this is exactly the kind of abusive litigation the revised statute was intended to prevent," said Attorney General Nickles. In the District, where the volume of special education litigation is greater than any other jurisdiction in the United States, a substantial number of attorneys rely exclusively for their income on the IDEA fee allowance. Recent years have seen annual requests to the Public School system for special education attorneys' fees in excess of $10M.
The suit is the District's first effort to recover legal expenses under the Individual with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), a Federal law amended in 2004 to allow school districts to recover funds from attorneys who initiate baseless special education litigation.
The District's suit alleges that Straus filed an administrative complaint under IDEA seeking a psychiatric evaluation of a District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) student. Straus disregarded the efforts by DCPS which had previously authorized that evaluation, and had also notified the student's parent that she could obtain an evaluation at DCPS' expense.
At a hearing in September, Straus admitted that he made no attempt to obtain the evaluation DCPS had authorized and continued pursuing the litigation to obtain his fees from DCPS. A decision by the Hearing Officer ruled that Straus' conduct represented improper conduct under IDEA.
"While IDEA rightly provides procedures to assure that disabled students receive needed services and accommodations, this is exactly the kind of abusive litigation the revised statute was intended to prevent," said Attorney General Nickles. In the District, where the volume of special education litigation is greater than any other jurisdiction in the United States, a substantial number of attorneys rely exclusively for their income on the IDEA fee allowance. Recent years have seen annual requests to the Public School system for special education attorneys' fees in excess of $10M.
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posted 4/25/09 @ 7:33 PM EST
It's important that the District's first effort to recover legal expenses under the Individual with Disabilities Education Act, a Federal law amended in 2004 to allow school districts to recover funds from attorneys who initiate baseless special education litigation. (Continued…)
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