Allison W. v. Oak Park & River Forest High School District 200
Allison W. v. Oak Park & River Forest High School District 200
Opinion of the Court
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER
This action has followed the all-too-familiar practice among lawyers of tendering a single claim for relief (the operative concept in federal litigation, as contrasted with the “cause of action” approach that marks Illinois state court litigation), but of presenting that claim in more than one count despite the more limited use of the term “counts” as originally prescribed in the last sentence of Fed. R. Civ. P. (“Rule”) 10(b).
Although Movants have advanced a contention that has found favor in other circuits, most extensively in the decision by the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in A.W. v. Jersey City Pub. Schs., 486 F.3d 791, 800-03 (3d Cir. 2007), defense counsel have inexplicably sought to call to their aid our own Court of Appeals’ decision just last year in Stanek v. St. Charles Commu
We turn next to all three plaintiffs’ invocation of 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The district court construed that claim broadly to include both constitutional and statutory claims. It concluded that § 1983 cannot be used to enforce IDEA, the Rehabilitation Act, or the ADA. This conclusion, at least with respect to IDEA, was incorrect. It is true that the federal courts of appeal are split on whether parties can bring claims under § 1983 for violations of IDEA.
This court, however, has come down on the side of holding that § 1983 can be an avenue- for pursuing remedies under IDEA.
To be sure, Stanek, id. at 644, then went on to say that its own earlier decisions “may need to be revisited in light of City of Rancho Palos Verdes v. Abrams, 544 U.S. 113, 125 S.Ct. 1453, 161 L.Ed.2d 316 (2005),”
It would thus violate fundamental jurisprudential principles for this Court to swim against the tide when our Court of Appeals has declined a like invitation. That said, the practical considerations with which Stanek, id. at 644, concluded its discussion also point the way here:
We think it best to refrain from deciding at this time whether any of the Staneks might be-able to seek recourse under § 1983. It is not clear that resolution of this question will make any practical difference in this case. Furthermore, the question of liability comes first, and unless the Staneks muster sufficient evidence during discovery to survive a motion for summary judgment on their statutory claims, the scope of available remedies is unimportant. We leave this issue for the district court to revisit and develop on remand, if necessary.
In sum, Movants’ motion to dismiss Count III of the Amended Complaint is denied, and they are ordered to answer all Counts of that pleading other than Counts IV and V on or before June 15, 2016.
. This Court has regularly inveighed against that often counterproductive practice, consistently invoking for that purpose the excellent explanations by Judge Frank Easterbrook for two different panels in Bartholet v. Reishauer A.G.(Zurich), 953 F.2d 1073, 1077-78 (7th Cir. 1992) and NAACP v. Am. Family Mut. Ins. Co., 978 F.2d 287, 292 (7th Cir. 1992). Those cases have been followed by a number of Seventh Circuit decisions in the two-plus decades since they were decided, but the expositions in Bartholet and NAACP remain the most comprehensive (and persuasive) treatment of the subject. This case, however, is not an occasion for digressing into that areá of analysis.
. That Supreme Court decision had led the Third Circuit to hold as it did in A.W.
. This Court sees no reason to defer all defensive pleading until the previously launched attack on Counts IV and V (which were the subject of a single count, Count II, in the original Complaint) is resolved—on that score the final brief is due June 8. If Counts IV and V survive that attack, a separate schedule will be set for an answer to those allegations.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- ALLISON W. v. OAK PARK AND RIVER FOREST HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT 200
- Cited By
- 1 case
- Status
- Published