McDaniel ex rel. E.E. v. Board of Education

956 F. Supp. 2d 887, 2013 WL 3456941, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 95924
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedJuly 9, 2013
DocketNo. 13 C 3624
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 956 F. Supp. 2d 887 (McDaniel ex rel. E.E. v. Board of Education) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McDaniel ex rel. E.E. v. Board of Education, 956 F. Supp. 2d 887, 2013 WL 3456941, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 95924 (N.D. Ill. 2013).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

JOHN Z. LEE, District Judge.

Plaintiffs Sherise McDaniel, Marshetta Ross, and Frances and Alphonso Newman (collectively “Plaintiffs”) are parents of children who attend the Chicago public schools slated for closure before the commencement of the 2013-2014 school year. They have sued the Board of Education of the City of Chicago (“Board”), Barbara Byrd-Bennett, the Chief Executive Officer of the Chicago Public Schools (“CPS”), and the City of Chicago (the “City”) (collectively “Defendants”) on two counts. In Count I, Plaintiffs McDaniel and Ross assert a claim on behalf of themselves, their children, and a purported class of all children who are currently enrolled in special edu[891]*891cation programs at one of the schools scheduled for closure. These Plaintiffs allege that, by closing the schools, Defendants will disproportionately harm students with disabilities, fail to reasonably accommodate these students, and have employed a selection process that violated Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”), 42 U.S.C. § 12132. In Count II, all four Plaintiffs have asserted a claim on behalf of themselves, their children, and a purported class of all African-American students who will be affected by the proposed school closings, including students at both the closing and receiving schools. Plaintiffs allege that Defendants used a selection process that resulted in African-American students bearing almost the entire burden of the school closings in violation of the Illinois Civil Rights Act (“ICRA”), 740 Ill. Comp. Stat. 23/5. Under both counts, Plaintiffs seek an injunction preventing the proposed school closures.

The City moves to dismiss Plaintiffs’ claims pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), arguing that, as a matter of law, the Board, not the City, is responsible for school closings and has the statutory power to cancel the closings. For the reasons stated herein, the City’s motion is granted, and Plaintiffs’ claims against the City are dismissed.

Background

The following facts aré taken from Plaintiffs’ Complaint and are accepted as true for purposes of resolving this motion to dismiss. See Reger Dev., LLC v. Nat’l City Bank, 592 F.3d 759, 763 (7th Cir.2010).

On March 23, 2013, CPS’s CEO Byrd-Bennett proposed to close 53 CPS elementary schools, including the elementary schools Plaintiffs’ children attend. (Compl. ¶¶ 10, 12, 14, 32.) The City, through the Mayor, appoints Board members and makes decisions with respect to the revenue available for the education of CPS students. (Id. ¶¶ 137-38.)

Plaintiffs ask the Court to issue injunctive relief “[e]njoin[ing] the defendants [including the City] from carrying out the proposed closings of Manierre, Calhoun and any other school set for closing by defendants” and “[d]irect[ing] defendants, including the City of Chicago, to provide a reasonable accommodation to plaintiff children and other children with disabilities by keeping such children in the schools they currently attend.” (Id. at p. 21.) Plaintiffs also request that the Court “[e]join defendants [including the City] on a preliminary and permanent basis from proceeding with the closings and other policies that have the effect of subjecting the plaintiff children to discrimination because of their race.” (Id. at p. 35.) On May 29, 2013, the City moved to dismiss pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6).

Discussion

Although the City brings its motion to dismiss pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6), the Court’s “first task, as it is in every case, is to determine whether we have subject matter jurisdiction” over Plaintiffs’ claims against the City. Grinnell Mut. Reins. Co. v. Haight, 697 F.3d 582, 584 (7th Cir.2012). The Court must engage in this jurisdictional inquiry, even if it is not directly raised by the parties. Hay v. Ind. State Bd. of Tax Comm’rs, 312 F.3d 876, 879 (7th Cir.2002) (“[N]ot only may the federal courts police subject matter jurisdiction sua sponte, they must.”) (citations omitted). In this case, the Court must determine whether Plaintiffs have standing to seek the requested injunction against the City. For the reasons discussed below, the Court finds that they do not. Additionally, even if Plaintiffs possess standing to seek alternative forms of relief against the City, see Bontkowski v. Smith, 305 [892]*892F.3d 757, 762 (7th Cir.2002), they have failed to state a claim upon which relief can be granted and fall short of the pleading standard announced by the Supreme Court in Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007), and Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009). The Court will address each of these issues in turn.

I. Standing for Injunctive Relief

Article III, section 2 of the United States Constitution “limits the ‘judicial power’ to the resolution of ‘cases’ and ‘controversies.’ ” Valley Forge Christian Coll. v. Ams. United for Separation of Church & State, Inc., 454 U.S. 464, 471, 102 S.Ct. 752, 70 L.Ed.2d 700 (1982). A necessary element of Article Ill’s case-or-controversy requirement is “that a litigant have ‘standing’ to challenge the action sought to be adjudicated in the lawsuit.” Id. Whether a litigant has standing is a “threshold question” which the Court must address even if the parties do not raise it, because if the litigants do not have standing, the Court is without authority to consider the merits of the action. Warth v. Seldin, 422 U.S. 490, 498, 95 S.Ct. 2197, 45 L.Ed.2d 343 (1975); Bender v. Williamsport Area Sch. Dist., 475 U.S. 534, 541, 106 S.Ct. 1326, 89 L.Ed.2d 501 (1986), Moreover, “standing is not dispensed in gross.” Davis v. Fed. Election Comm’n, 554 U.S. 724, 734, 128 S.Ct. 2759, 171 L.Ed.2d 737 (2008) (internal quotations omitted). “[A] plaintiff must demonstrate standing for each claim he seeks to press and for each form of relief that is sought.” Id. (internal quotations omitted); see Friends of the Earth, Inc. v. Laidlaw Envtl. Servs., Inc., 528 U.S. 167, 185, 120 S.Ct. 693, 145 L.Ed.2d 610 (2000).

“[T]he irreducible constitutional minimum of standing contains three elements.” Lac Du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians v. Norton, 422 F.3d 490; 495 (7th Cir.2005) (quoting Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 560, 112 S.Ct. 2130, 119 L.Ed.2d 351 (1992)).

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956 F. Supp. 2d 887, 2013 WL 3456941, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 95924, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcdaniel-ex-rel-ee-v-board-of-education-ilnd-2013.