R. v. New York City Department of Education

Nos., 02-9471, 02-9472, 02-0473 (2d Cir. May 10, 2005); Clearinghouse Number: 55906

Description

Endorsement of Settlement Agreement by City Education Department’s Hearing Officer Renders Plaintiffs “Prevailing Parties” for Purposes of Attorney Fee Awards, Second Circuit Rules

Abstract

The Second Circuit upheld a district court’s award of attorney fees to parents whose administrative challenges under the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act concluded in settlement, and the court found that allowing rates of $350 to $375 per hour was not an abuse of the district court’s discretion. Plaintiff parents brought four separate administrative actions against the New York City Department of Education to challenge the special education programs that defendant provided plaintiffs’ children. Two of the hearings ended in decisions on the merits for plaintiffs, and in the two others the hearing officers issued orders that incorporated the parties’ settlement terms. When defendant refused their attorney fee request, plaintiffs sued for the fees in federal court. Defendant maintained that the hourly rates sought were unreasonable and that those plaintiffs whose hearings ended in settlement were not prevailing parties because the resolution was not on the merits and because the “so ordered” settlement agreements were not consent decrees as required for a fee award by Buckhannon Board and Care Home v. West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, 532 U.S. 598 (2001) (Clearinghouse No. xxxxx). The Second Circuit found that plaintiffs whose hearings settled received the administrative analog of a consent decree. Interpreting the Act’s directive that a fee award use the prevailing community rate, the Second Circuit found that selecting the southern district of New York as the “community,” rather than the community of all practitioners appearing before defendant in administrative actions, was within the district court’s discretion.

Additional Information

Attorney Information
Docket Date
2005-05-10 05:00:00+00:00

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