Corey H. Ex Rel. B.H. v. Cape Henlopen School District

286 F. Supp. 2d 380, 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18327, 2003 WL 22351274
CourtDistrict Court, D. Delaware
DecidedOctober 8, 2003
DocketCIV.A.02-1363-JJF
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 286 F. Supp. 2d 380 (Corey H. Ex Rel. B.H. v. Cape Henlopen School District) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Delaware primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Corey H. Ex Rel. B.H. v. Cape Henlopen School District, 286 F. Supp. 2d 380, 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18327, 2003 WL 22351274 (D. Del. 2003).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

FARNAN, District Judge.

Pending before the Court are three motions, a Motion For Summary Judgment (D.I.16) filed by Defendants, the Cape Henlopen School District and the Department of Education of the State of Delaware, Plaintiffs Motion For Summary Judgment (D.I.20), and Plaintiffs Motion To Amend The Complaint And Add A Defendant Individually And By Name (D.I.22). 1 For the reasons set forth below, the Court will grant Defendants’ Motion and deny Plaintiffs Motions.

BACKGROUND

Plaintiff, Corey H., is a minor entitled to special education services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), 20 U.S.C. § 1401. Plaintiff attended the Defendant, Cape Henlopen School District (the “Defendant District”), until his mother withdrew him from the Defendant District and placed him in a private special education facility, the Greenwood School (“Greenwood”) in Vermont. Greenwood is a twenty-four hour residential school.

Through his parents and next friends, Plaintiff contends that Defendants have failed to fulfill their statutory obligation to provide him with a free appropriate public education (“FAPE”). When this action began during the 2000-2001 school year, Plaintiff was in the fifth grade. While in the third grade, Plaintiff received special education accommodations in a different school district. When he transferred the following year to the Defendant District, the Defendant District determined that Plaintiff was not eligible for special education accommodations. Plaintiffs mother disagreed with this determination and appealed to the hearing panel. Following the First Due Process Hearing, the First Due Process Panel reversed the Defendant District’s initial finding. On November 5, 2001, the First Due Process Panel ordered the Defendant District to convene a meet *383 ing to develop an appropriate individualized education program (“IEP”) for Plaintiff on November 30, 2001. The First Due Process Panel also directed the Defendant District to decide whether Plaintiff was entitled to Compensatory Services for the Defendant District’s initial failure to provide him with special education accommodations.

The Defendant District held meetings on November 30, 2001 and December 7, 2001, during which it discussed and completed the Plaintiffs IEP. Between these two meetings, Plaintiffs mother filed another administrative action against the Defendant District for a purported failure to follow the First Due Process Panel’s decision. 2 As relief, Plaintiffs mother requested Defendants to pay for her son to attend school at Greenwood. A Second Due Process Hearing was held on these allegations in May 2002. After the Second Due Process Hearing, the Second Due Process Panel determined that Plaintiff was receiving a FAPE and that the Compensatory Services offered by the Defendant District were adequate to compensate Plaintiff for past FAPE deprivations.

By the instant action, Plaintiff alleges that Defendants violated the IDEA, the Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. § 12102 (the “ADA”), and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. § 794 (“Section 504”). Plaintiff seeks in-junctive relief requiring Defendants to comply with federal disability and education laws, compensatory damages to pay his private school education at Greenwood and punitive damages. Plaintiffs claims under the ADA were dismissed with prejudice on February 6, 2003. Accordingly, the Court’s decision will focus on Plaintiffs remaining claims under the IDEA and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.

DISCUSSION

I. Standard of Review

A. Summary Judgment

Rule 56(c) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provides that a party is entitled to summary judgment if a court determines from its examination of “the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any,” that there are no genuine issues of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). In determining whether there is a triable dispute of material fact, a court must review all of the evidence and construe all inferences in the light most favorable to the non-moving party. Goodman v. Mead Johnson & Co., 534 F.2d 566, 573 (3d Cir.1976). However, a court should not make credibility determinations or weigh the evidence. Reeves v. Sanderson Plumbing Prods., Inc., 530 U.S. 133, 150, 120 S.Ct. 2097, 147 L.Ed.2d 105 (2000). Thus, to properly consider all of the evidence without making credibility determinations or weighing the evidence the “court should give credence to the evidence favoring the [non-movant] as well as that ‘evidence supporting the moving party that is uncontradicted and unimpeached, at least to the extent that the evidence comes from disinterested witnesses.’ ” Id. To defeat a motion for summary judgment, the non-moving party must:

do more than simply show that there is some metaphysical doubt as to the material facts.... In the language of the *384 Rule, the non-moving party must come forward with “specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial.”

Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co., Ltd. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 586-87, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986). However, the mere existence of some evidence in support of the nonmovant will not be sufficient to support a denial of a motion for summary judgment; there must be enough evidence to enable a jury to reasonably find for the nonmovant on that issue. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 249, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). Thus, if the evidence is “merely colorable, or is not significantly probative,” summary judgment may be granted. Id.

B. Review Of An Administrative Panel’s Decision

In Board of Education v. Rowley, 458 U.S. 176, 206, 102 S.Ct. 3034, 73 L.Ed.2d 690 (1982), the Supreme Court held that a reviewing court should give “due weight” to a final decision of an administrative body.

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Related

C.H. v. Cape Henlopen School District
566 F. Supp. 2d 352 (D. Delaware, 2008)

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Bluebook (online)
286 F. Supp. 2d 380, 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18327, 2003 WL 22351274, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/corey-h-ex-rel-bh-v-cape-henlopen-school-district-ded-2003.