Paul G. v. Monterey Peninsula Unified School District

256 F. Supp. 3d 1064, 2017 WL 2670739, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 96066
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedJune 21, 2017
DocketCase No. 16-cv-05582-BLF
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 256 F. Supp. 3d 1064 (Paul G. v. Monterey Peninsula Unified School District) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Paul G. v. Monterey Peninsula Unified School District, 256 F. Supp. 3d 1064, 2017 WL 2670739, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 96066 (N.D. Cal. 2017).

Opinion

ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO DISMISS WITH LEAVE TO AMEND IN PART AND WITHOUT LEAVE TO AMEND IN PART

BETH LABSON FREEMAN, United States District Judge

Severely impacted by Ms autism, Plaintiff Paul G. (“Paul”) requires placement in a residential treatment facility that specializes in educating autistic students aged 18 to 22, which was not available in his home state of California. First Am. Compl. (“FAC”) ¶¶ 15, 28, ECF 25. As a result, Plaintiff Paul G. brings this suit against the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District and California Department of Education, alleging various claims for relief. Paul asks this Court to compel the California Department of Education (“CDE”) to ensure that residential treatment facilities for qualifying special education students age 18 to 22 are available in California, and where a local school district cannot provide such residential placement, that CDE step in to do so. FAC ¶¶ 98, 99. Paul also seeks monetary relief. Id. ¶¶ 95-97. Before the Court is CDE’s motion to dismiss Paul’s FAC. Mot., ECF 28. After reviewing the papers filed in conjunction with the motion and holding oral argument on April 13, 2017, the Court GRANTS CDE’s motion to dismiss for reasons stated below.

I. BACKGROUND

According to the FAC, the facts are as follows. Plaintiff Paul G. is a nineteen-year-old special education student on the autism spectrum who has been a California resident since birth. FAC ¶¶ 12, 13. Severely impacted by his autism and thus conserved by his parents, Paul has difficulty communicating and interacting with others and can engage in destructive behaviors at times. Id. ¶¶ 14-17. Paul attended the 2014-2015 school year in the eleventh grade at Marina High School located within the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District (“District”). Id. ¶¶ 5, 18. However, the District did not offer Paul an intensive applied behavior analysis program (“ABA”), which has been endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Research Counsel as the most effective form of treatment for autism. Id. ¶¶ 16, 20. Paul’s behaviors worsened throughout the school year and the District eventually placed him on home hospital instruction in February 2015. Id. ¶¶ 20-26. On July 14, 2015, Paul was brought to a public library to receive home hospital instruction but the home hospital teacher was not adequately trained to work with Paul. Id. ¶¶ 20-26. In one instance, when the teacher told Paul to “be quiet,” the situation escalated and triggered Paul to elope from the library and to run to his father’s car. Id. ¶¶ 33-34. In the process of running from the library, Paul knocked an elderly lady to the ground causing injury. Id. ¶ 35. Because of this incident, Paul was charged with three felonies and was not allowed to leave the State of California pending resolution of his criminal charges. Id. ¶ 36.

On July 20, 2015, during an Individualized Education Plan (“IEP”) meeting, the District offered Paul placement in a residential treatment facility, which was, as Paul alleges, what he should have received in lieu of home hospital in the first place. Id. ¶¶ 28, 37. However, because Paul was eighteen years old, there was no placement in the entire State of Califorma that would accept him. Id. ¶ 37. In September 2015, the District invited the CDE to Paul’s IEP meeting but the CDE did not participate in the meeting. Id. ¶ 38.

On August 25, 2015, a due process hearing was requested on behalf of Paul with [1069]*1069the Office of Administrative Hearings. Id. ¶ 31. The due process complaint, which was filed and served on the District, the CDE, and the Department of Social Services (“DSS”), alleged that the CDE and the District had denied Paul a free and appropriate public education (“FAPE”) by failing to ensure that an appropriate instate residential treatment facility was available to students eighteen to twenty-two years of age, such as Paul. Id. On September 23, 2015, the OAH dismissed the complaint against CDE and DSS because the relief requested was “beyond the jurisdiction of the OAH in a due process case.” Id. ¶ 52. In January 2016, the District and Paul’s parents settled past claims under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (“IDEA”), excluding from settlement any tort, negligence, or civil rights claim. Id. ¶ 53.

In accordance with the settlement, on February 23, 2016, Paul was placed in a residential treatment facility in Kansas. Id. ¶ 54. According to Paul, however, he requires a residential placement close to his family and the community in which he will live upon exiting special education. Id. ¶¶ 55, 60.

Paul filed this suit on September 30, 2016, against the 'District and CDE. EOF 1. The first amended complaint alleges two causes of action against the District and three causes of action against the CDE: (1) violation of § 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 against the District; (2) violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act against the District; (3) violation of § 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 against the CDE; (4) violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act against the CDE; and (5) violation of the IDEA and California Education Code § 56342 against the CDE. FAC ¶¶ 64-94. The District answered the first amended complaint but the CDE moves to dismiss it. Answr., ECF 27; Mot.

II. LEGAL STANDARD

A. Fed. R. Civ. Proc. 12(b)(1) and Standing

Article III of the U.S. Constitution’s “case and controversy” requirement obligates federal courts to determine, as an initial matter, whether plaintiffs have standing to bring suit. Lance v. Coffman, 549 U.S. 437, 439, 127 S.Ct. 1194, 167 L.Ed.2d 29 (2007). At the pleading stage, to satisfy the standing requirement plaintiffs .must allege: (1) that they have suffered an “injury in fact that is (a) concrete and particularized, and (b) actual or imminent, not conjectural or hypothetical; (2) that the injury is fairly traceable to the defendant’s challenged conduct; and (3) that the injury will likely be redressed by a favorable decision. See, e.g., Friends of the Earth, Inc. v. Laidlaw Envtl. Servs. (TOC), Inc., 528 U.S. 167, 180-81, 120 S.Ct. 693, 145 L.Ed.2d 610 (2000); Lujan v. Defs. of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 561-62, 112 S.Ct. 2130, 119 L.Ed.2d 351 (1992). The party seeking to invoke federal court jurisdiction has the burden of establishing standing. See Lujan, 504 U.S. at 561, 112 S.Ct. 2130. The Ninth Circuit has emphasized that “[t]he jurisdictional question of standing precedes, and does not require, analysis of the merits.” Maya v. Centex Corp., 658 F.3d 1060, 1068 (9th Cir. 2011) (citation and internal quotation marks omitted).

B. Fed. R. Civ. Proc. 12(b)(6)

“A motion to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted ‘tests the legal sufficiency of a claim.’” Conservation Force v. Salazar,

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256 F. Supp. 3d 1064, 2017 WL 2670739, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 96066, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/paul-g-v-monterey-peninsula-unified-school-district-cand-2017.