Logan Taijeron and G.D., a minor by and through his parent v. Judith T. Won Pat, Ed.D., in her official capacity as Superintendent of the Guam Department of Education

CourtDistrict Court, D. Guam
DecidedJune 3, 2026
Docket1:25-cv-00017
StatusUnknown

This text of Logan Taijeron and G.D., a minor by and through his parent v. Judith T. Won Pat, Ed.D., in her official capacity as Superintendent of the Guam Department of Education (Logan Taijeron and G.D., a minor by and through his parent v. Judith T. Won Pat, Ed.D., in her official capacity as Superintendent of the Guam Department of Education) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Guam primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Logan Taijeron and G.D., a minor by and through his parent v. Judith T. Won Pat, Ed.D., in her official capacity as Superintendent of the Guam Department of Education, (gud 2026).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF GUAM 7 8 9 LOGAN TAIJERON and Case No. 1:25-cv-00017 10 G.D., a minor by and through his parent, 11 12 Plaintiffs, 13 DECISION AND ORDER 14 v. GRANTING DEFENDANT’S MOTION 15 FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT, 16 JUDITH T. WON PAT, Ed.D., in her DENYING PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION FOR 17 official capacity as Superintendent of the SUMMARY JUDGMENT, AND 18 Guam Department of Education, DIRECTING ENTRY OF JUDGMENT 19 AND CASE CLOSURE 20 Defendant. 21 22 Before the Court are Plaintiffs’ Motion for Summary Judgment for Declaratory Relief 23 (ECF No. 126) and Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment (ECF No. 128). The Parties filed 24 their respective oppositions (ECF Nos. 130 and 132) and their respective replies (ECF Nos. 135 25 and 136). On March 30, 2026, the Court held a hearing on the Parties’ cross-motions for summary 26 judgment. For the reasons set forth below, the Court GRANTS Defendant’s Motion for Summary 27 Judgment and DENIES Plaintiffs’ Motion for Summary Judgment. 28 I. BACKGROUND 29 On April 18, 2025, Plaintiff Logan Taijeron filed a Complaint for Declaratory and 30 Injunctive Relief against the Guam Department of Education (“GDOE”) and Dr. Kenneth Erik 31 Swanson in his official capacity as the then-Superintendent of GDOE. Mr. Taijeron, a student who 32 requires the use of a wheelchair due to his cerebral palsy diagnosis, alleged that GDOE violated 33 Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”), section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and 34 1 two provisions of the Guam Code incorporating federal law by denying him reasonable 2 accommodations as a junior attending Southern High School, a public school operated by GDOE. 3 Mr. Taijeron sought declaratory relief and temporary, preliminary, and permanent injunctive relief 4 alongside fees and costs. (See generally Compl., ECF No. 1.) Mr. Taijeron subsequently orally 5 amended the Complaint to strike GDOE as a party defendant (see Mins., ECF No. 28; Mem.

6 Decision & Order Granting Pl.’s Mot. to Strike GDOE as Def. & Limited Disc., ECF No. 29) and 7 moved for a preliminary injunction against Dr. Swanson (see Am. Ex Parte Appl. (Mot.) for Order 8 to Show Cause, ECF No. 21), while Dr. Swanson sought dismissal of the Complaint on grounds 9 of mootness and failure to state a claim (see Def.’s Mot. to Dismiss, ECF No. 15). The Court 10 denied both motions (see Mem. Decision Den. Def.’s Mot. to Dismiss & Pl.’s Am. Mot. for Prelim. 11 Inj., ECF No. 34; see also Mins. (denying without prejudice Mr. Taijeron’s motion for 12 reconsideration of denial of motion for preliminary injunction), ECF No. 49), whereupon 13 Dr. Swanson filed an Answer (see Answer, ECF No. 39). 14 Thereafter, Mr. Taijeron sought and obtained leave to file a First Amended Complaint

15 (“FAC,” ECF No. 67), in which he added minor G.D., a freshman at Southern High School who 16 also requires the use of a wheelchair due to a cerebral palsy diagnosis, as a party plaintiff and 17 removed allegations asserting violations of Guam law. (See Order Granting Pl.’s Mot. for Leave 18 to Am. Compl., ECF No. 66.) Dr. Swanson filed a new Answer (ECF No. 73). Dr. Swanson 19 subsequently ceased to be GDOE Superintendent; Dr. Judith T. Won Pat was automatically 20 substituted as the named party defendant in her official capacity as GDOE Acting Superintendent.1 21 (See Notice of Automatic Substitution, ECF No. 80.) While discovery was briefly reopened to 22 1 Dr. Won Pat’s recent status reports suggest that she formally acceded as GDOE Superintendent at some 23 point between May 4 and May 18, 2026. (Compare Def. GDOE Superintendent Judith T. Won Pat’s May 18, 2026 Status Report, ECF No. 142, with Def. GDOE Acting Superintendent Judith T. Won Pat’s May 4, 24 2026 Status Report, ECF No 141.) 1 permit the Parties to engage in discovery concerning G.D. (see Order Granting in Part Def.’s 2 Request for Disc., ECF No. 98), the Parties filed cross-motions for summary judgment. The Court 3 ultimately ordered all summary judgment filings to be stricken in view of the Parties’ failure to 4 comply with the rules governing summary judgment motions and directed the Parties to file new, 5 rule-compliant summary judgment motions on an expedited basis. (Order Striking Mots. for

6 Summ. J. & Related Filings, ECF No. 123.) In that same order, the Court vacated the final pretrial 7 conference and bench trial and set a hearing on the Parties’ forthcoming summary judgment 8 motions for March 30, 2026. (Id.) 9 The Parties filed their new cross-motions for summary judgment on March 11, 2026, which 10 motions were fully briefed by March 25, 2026. On March 30, 2026, counsel for all Parties 11 appeared and presented oral arguments. At the conclusion of the hearing, the Court took the 12 Parties’ cross-motions for summary judgment under submission. (Mins., ECF No. 137.) 13 II. LEGAL STANDARD 14 A party moving for summary judgment must “identify[] each claim or defense—or the part

15 of each claim or defense—on which summary judgment is sought. The court shall grant summary 16 judgment if the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the 17 movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a); see also Celotex Corp. v. 18 Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 323-24 (1986) (explaining that “[o]ne of the principal purposes” of summary 19 judgment procedure “is to isolate and dispose of factually unsupported claims or defenses”). A 20 fact is “material” if it may “affect the outcome of the suit under the governing law,” while a dispute 21 about a material fact is “genuine” if the record permits a reasonable factfinder to find for the non- 22 moving party. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248 (1986). 23 24 1 The movant “always bears the initial responsibility” of demonstrating the absence of any 2 genuine dispute of material fact. Celotex Corp., 477 U.S. at 323. Where the movant 3 would bear the burden of proof at trial, it must come forward with evidence which would entitle it to a directed verdict if the evidence 4 went uncontroverted at trial. In such a case, the moving party has the initial burden of establishing the absence of a genuine issue of 5 fact on each issue material to its case. Once the moving party comes forward with sufficient evidence, the burden then moves to the 6 opposing party, who must present significant probative evidence tending to support its claim or defense. 7 C.A.R. Transp. Brokerage Co., Inc. v. Darden Rests., Inc., 213 F.3d 474, 480 (9th Cir. 2000) 8 (citations and quotation marks omitted). “In contrast, when the non-moving party bears the burden 9 of proving the claim or defense, the moving party can meet its burden by pointing out the absence 10 of evidence from the non-moving party. The moving party need not disprove the other party’s 11 case.” Miller v. Glenn Miller Prods., Inc., 454 F.3d 975, 987 (9th Cir. 2006) (citing Celotex Corp., 12 477 U.S. at 325). “When the moving party has carried its [initial] burden . . . , its opponent must 13 do more than simply show that there is some metaphysical doubt as to the material facts.” 14 Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co., Ltd. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 586 (1986). The nonmoving 15 party may not rest on the pleadings and must come forward with evidence and specific facts 16 showing that there exists a genuine dispute of material fact. Id. at 587; see also Anderson, 477 17 U.S.

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Logan Taijeron and G.D., a minor by and through his parent v. Judith T. Won Pat, Ed.D., in her official capacity as Superintendent of the Guam Department of Education, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/logan-taijeron-and-gd-a-minor-by-and-through-his-parent-v-judith-t-won-gud-2026.