S.B. v. New York City Department of Education
- Paul Engelmayer
- 1:23-cv-03961
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 25
In S.B. v. New York City Department of Education, Judge Engelmayer granted in part and denied in part S.B.’s fee motion, awarding $19,454.38.
S.B. and T.B. received an award of $19,454.38 in attorneys’ fees and costs from the New York City Department of Education, plus post-judgment interest; the ruling also limits compensation for their attorneys’ work.
What happened
In S.B. v. New York City Department of Education, S.B., acting for her child T.B., won an earlier special-education proceeding against the Department of Education. The hearing officer found that T.B. had not received the required educational services and ordered relief including private-school reimbursement and compensatory education.
S.B. then sought $55,284.85 in attorneys’ fees and costs for the earlier proceeding and the federal fee case. The court found S.B. eligible for an award but reduced the requested hourly rates and the billed hours, including a 20% reduction for the administrative proceeding and a 25% reduction for qualifying work in the federal case. It also excluded work after the Department’s $20,500 settlement offer.
Judge Engelmayer granted in part and denied in part the fee motion. He awarded S.B. $19,454.38 in fees and costs, plus post-judgment interest at the applicable statutory rate, and directed the Clerk to enter judgment and close the case.
The detailed version
- S.B. v. New York City Department of Education · No. 1:23-cv-03961
- Paul Engelmayer
- Apr. 2, 2024
Background
S.B. brought the federal action under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, a federal law requiring appropriate public education and related services for children with disabilities. S.B. acted individually and for T.B., a child with autism. In an earlier administrative proceeding, S.B. alleged that the New York City Department of Education had failed to provide T.B. with an appropriate education during the 2020–2021 and 2021–2022 school years.
The hearing officer found that T.B. had not received the required education, that Gersh Academy was an appropriate placement, and that S.B. was entitled to reimbursement for T.B.’s attendance there. The hearing officer also awarded T.B. 924 hours of compensatory education services at state expense. Neither party appealed that decision.
S.B. later sought attorneys’ fees and costs for both the administrative proceeding and the federal fee litigation. The total request was $55,284.85, plus interest. The Department of Education did not dispute that S.B. had prevailed in the administrative proceeding; it disputed the reasonableness of the requested rates and hours. The Department made a written settlement offer of $20,500 on August 9, 2023, which S.B. rejected.
Legal standard
Under the education law, a parent who prevails may receive reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs for work performed in the administrative proceeding and in federal court. The court first determines whether the parent is a prevailing party and then determines what fees and costs are reasonable.
The court calculated fees using the “lodestar,” meaning a reasonable hourly rate multiplied by a reasonable number of hours. It considered the attorneys’ experience, the local market, the nature and difficulty of the case, the results obtained, and the billing records. The court could reduce fees for excessive, duplicative, vague, clerical, or otherwise unnecessary work.
The law also limited fees and related costs incurred after a written settlement offer if the relief ultimately obtained was not more favorable than that offer.
Hourly rates
The court rejected the requested rates as excessive for this relatively straightforward case. It found that the administrative proceeding involved one hearing, two witnesses whose testimony was primarily submitted by affidavit, limited live examination, and no witnesses presented by the Department of Education.
The court set the following hourly rates for the work it considered compensable: $400 for Andrew Cuddy and Michael Cuddy; $310 for Kevin Mendillo; $300 for Justin Coretti; $225 for Kenneth Bush; $240 for Erin Murray; and $125 for the paralegals Shobna Cuddy, Cailin O’Donnell, and ChinaAnn Reeve.
Administrative proceeding
The court found that the law firm’s billing included excessive time preparing the due process complaint, preparing for the hearing, reviewing and correcting its own billing records, and performing clerical tasks. It therefore reduced the hours for the administrative proceeding by 20%.
Before that reduction, the court calculated $22,479.50 in fees. After the reduction, it awarded $17,983.60 in administrative-proceeding fees. It also reduced requested printing costs from $101.50 to $20.30 and awarded $43.85 in postage, for total administrative-proceeding costs of $64.15. The total award for that proceeding was $18,047.75.
Federal fee litigation
For work in the federal fee case, the court considered only work performed before the Department’s August 9, 2023 settlement offer. It found that the offer exceeded the reasonable fees and costs recoverable as of that date, so the education law barred an award for work or costs incurred afterward.
The court also reduced the qualifying federal-court hours by 25%, citing boilerplate language in the complaint and billing for administrative tasks. It awarded $1,004.63 in fees for the qualifying federal-court work and $402 for the federal filing fee, totaling $1,406.63.
Disposition
The court combined the administrative-proceeding award of $18,047.75 with the federal-court award of $1,406.63, for a total of $19,454.38. It granted S.B.’s request for post-judgment interest at the applicable statutory rate.
The court granted in part and denied in part S.B.’s motion for attorneys’ fees and costs. It directed the Clerk of Court to enter judgment, terminate the pending motions, and close the case.
Read the full 25-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.