J. v. New York City Department of Education
- Katherine Failla
- 1:20-cv-10672
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 32
In L.J. v. New York City Department of Education, Judge Failla granted in part summary judgment, awarding fees and costs while reserving possible remaining relief.
L.J. and D.S. received an award of attorneys’ fees and costs against the New York City Department of Education. The ruling also left any unresolved requests to enforce the administrative decision for later briefing.
What happened
In L.J. v. New York City Department of Education, L.J., acting for D.S., challenged the Department’s implementation of an administrative decision requiring educational services for D.S., a child with a disability. The administrative hearing officer had found that D.S. was denied an appropriate public education and ordered compensatory education, counseling, speech therapy, and other relief.
The federal court considered only L.J.’s request for attorneys’ fees and costs because it was unclear whether any disputes about implementing the administrative decision remained. The court reviewed work performed during the administrative proceeding and the federal lawsuit, reduced the requested hours and rates where appropriate, and considered which litigation expenses were reasonable.
Judge Failla granted in part L.J.’s summary-judgment motion on fees and costs, awarding $47,776.40 in attorneys’ fees and $881.57 in costs, plus post-judgment interest. The court did not resolve any remaining requests for enforcement of the administrative decision and ordered the parties to submit letters addressing any unsatisfied relief.
The detailed version
- J. v. New York City Department of Education · No. 1:20-cv-10672
- Katherine Failla
- Sept. 6, 2023
Background
L.J. brought the action individually and for D.S. under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), a federal law requiring schools to provide eligible children with a free appropriate public education. The case followed a second administrative proceeding concerning the 2018–2019 and 2019–2020 school years. In September 2020, the impartial hearing officer found that the New York City Department of Education had denied D.S. that education during both school years.
The hearing officer ordered the Department to reconvene the special-education committee, develop a new individualized education program, seek an appropriate non-public-school placement, and provide compensatory education, transportation, counseling, speech and language therapy, and funding for a behavior intervention plan. Neither side appealed that decision.
L.J.’s federal complaint alleged that the Department had not fully implemented the hearing officer’s decision. L.J. sought enforcement of the decision, an order maintaining D.S.’s educational placement during the case, and attorneys’ fees and costs. The parties engaged in discovery and settlement efforts, but the record described repeated disputes concerning the Department’s compliance with discovery and court deadlines.
Scope of the ruling
The court stated that it could not determine from the parties’ submissions how much disagreement remained about implementation of the hearing officer’s decision. It therefore addressed only the fee-and-cost portion of L.J.’s summary-judgment motion and allowed the parties to provide later briefing about any remaining requests for injunctive relief.
Attorneys’ fees
The IDEA permits a court to award reasonable attorneys’ fees to a parent who prevailed in an IDEA proceeding. The court calculated the presumptively reasonable fee by examining reasonable hourly rates and reasonable hours. It adopted rates previously used for attorneys and paralegals at the Cuddy Law Firm: $400 for Andrew Cuddy, $300 for Kevin Mendillo, $280 for Justin Coretti, $250 for Benjamin Kopp when acting as an attorney, $125 for Shobna Cuddy and for Kopp when acting as a paralegal, and $100 for the remaining paralegals.
For the administrative proceeding, the court found some billing excessive, including time spent drafting the due-process complaint and post-hearing brief, preparing a summary-judgment motion that the hearing officer declined to consider, and reviewing the firm’s own billing statements. It reduced the administrative hours by 20% and awarded $19,910.40 in fees.
For the federal litigation, the court found that some hours spent on drafting submissions were excessive but concluded that discovery and implementation-related work were not excessive in light of defense counsel’s conduct. It reduced the federal litigation hours by 20% and awarded $27,866.00 in fees. The total attorneys’ fee award was $47,776.40.
Costs and interest
The court awarded $407.07 for filing fees and postage and $366.30 for transcript fees. It reduced the requested printing and copying costs to $108.20, based on a rate of 20 cents per page, and disallowed the requested faxing costs. The total cost award was $881.57.
The court also granted L.J.’s request for post-judgment interest. In its conclusion, the court granted in part L.J.’s motion for summary judgment on attorneys’ fees and costs, directed the Clerk to terminate the motion, and required L.J. and the Department to submit letter briefs concerning any relief from the hearing officer’s decision that remained unsatisfied.
Read the full 32-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.