United States Ninth Circuit

In an action seeking attorney's fees based on an administrative proceeding under the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act in which an Administrative Law Judge concluded that defendant school district misclassified the disability of plaintiffs' son, dismissal of the action is reversed where: 1) plaintiffs were a prevailing party because the change in the student's disability classification legally entitled the child to instruction by teachers qualified to teach students with both mental retardation and autism; and 2) even though parents were not eligible to receive attorneys' fees when they represented their children themselves, a parent was eligible to receive attorneys' fees when a non-parent relative provided legal representation for their child.

Appellate Information

• Argued 10/08/2009
• Decided 01/14/2010
• Published 01/14/2010

Judges

• Before: HARRY PREGERSON, STEPHEN REINHARDT and KIM McLANE WARDLAW, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Diane B. Weissburg, Diane Bargara Weissburg Law Offices, Marina del Rey, CA, for the plaintiffs-appellants.


• For Appellees:
  
• Carol J. Grogan, Schools Legal Service, Bakersfield, CA, for the defendants-appellees.