N.A. v. New York City Department of Education

Background

The court was considering the New York City Department of Education’s motion for a pre-motion conference or, alternatively, reconsideration of an August 4, 2022 Report and Recommendation. The Department also requested more time to file objections to that recommendation. The earlier recommendation had granted in part and denied in part N.A.’s motion for summary judgment and recommended an award of $37,329.50 in attorneys’ fees and $612.55 in costs related to an administrative hearing under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and the related federal case.

The earlier recommendation included $24,652.00 for the administrative proceeding and $12,677.50 for the federal case. It also applied reduced hourly rates, a 20% reduction in administrative-proceeding hours, and a 50% reduction in federal-case hours. Because the total recommended fees exceeded the Department’s August 2, 2021 settlement offer of $29,720.00, the court had previously concluded that the statute did not bar fees for federal-case work performed after the offer.

The parties’ arguments

The Department argued that the court should compare the offer with only the fees and costs incurred through August 2, 2021, rather than with fees for the entire federal case. Applying the reduced rates and 50% reduction, the Department initially stated that the pre-offer federal fees were $1,097.50. The court recalculated that amount as $1,127.50. Combined with the recommended $24,652.00 for the administrative proceeding and $612.55 in costs, the court stated that the total was less than the settlement offer.

N.A. stated that a pre-motion conference was unnecessary if the court agreed to reconsider the earlier order. N.A. did not substantively respond to the Department’s argument about the calculation under the settlement-offer provision.

Court’s analysis

The court explained that reconsideration is an exceptional remedy generally available when the court overlooked controlling law or information that could reasonably change its conclusion. It found that the Department had shown a mistake in the earlier application of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act’s fee provision.

That provision prevents an award of attorneys’ fees and costs incurred after a written settlement offer when the relief ultimately obtained is not more favorable than the offer. The court applied the 50% reduction only to the hours incurred before August 2, 2021, and calculated the recommended pre-offer federal fees as $1,127.50. Because the resulting combined amount was below the $29,720.00 offer, the court concluded that the earlier recommendation had incorrectly allowed the possibility of recovering post-offer federal fees.

Disposition

The court granted the Department’s motion in part. It directed that an amended Report and Recommendation be issued at the same time as the Opinion and Order, with the parties given fourteen days to file written objections. The court denied as moot the Department’s request for an extension of time to file objections to the original recommendation. The court did not itself issue the final amended fee award in this Opinion and Order.