Georgia State Dept. of Educ. v. Derrick C.

• Decision Date: 10 December 2002
• Docket Number: No. 02-11578.,02-11578.
• Citation: 314 F.3d 545
• Parties: GEORGIA STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, Plaintiff-Counter-Defendant-Appellant, v. DERRICK C., Zena Cherry, Norman Cherry, Defendants-Counter-Claimants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit

314 F.3d 545

GEORGIA STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, Plaintiff-Counter-Defendant-Appellant, v. DERRICK C., Zena Cherry, Norman Cherry, Defendants-Counter-Claimants-Appellees.

No. 02-11578.

United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit.

December 10, 2002.

Kendall L. Kerew, Atlanta, GA, Kathryn L. Allen, GA Dept. of Law, Atlanta, GA, for GA State Dept. of Educ.

Dawn R. Smith, Jonathan A. Zimring, Zimring, Ellin & Miller, Zimring, Smith & Billips, Atlanta, GA, for Defendants-Counter-Claimants-Appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.

Before CARNES, HILL and FARRIS,^* Circuit Judges.

CARNES, Circuit Judge:

The Georgia State Department of Education ("the Department") brought this appeal in order to have us decide whether the "stay-put provision" of Part B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 20 U.S.C. §§ 1400-1491 ("IDEA"), applies to a child who, at the time he turned three years of age and came within the purview of Part B, disputed his Part B placement. That is an issue of first impression in our court, and the Department says that we need to decide it so that the district courts and parties involved in similar disputes will have some guidance.

However, our guidance-providing role is subordinate to our primary responsibility which is to decide each appeal that is brought before us. Because the lawsuit that led to this appeal was barred by the statute of limitations, we do not address the merits issue involving the IDEA stay put provision. If the Department had wanted that issue decided, it should have brought the case to court sooner.

I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Derrick C. is a child with autism and a language disorder. When he was one year old, Georgia's Department of Human Resources ("DHR"), which is responsible for providing services under Part C of the IDEA, found him to be a disabled child under Part C and placed him at the Walden School. As Derrick C.'s third birthday approached, his family and DHR met with the Dekalb County School District ("the District") about his transition from Part C services which were provided by DHR to Part B services which were to be provided by the Department. The District provided an Individualized Education Program ("IEP") for Derrick C., but Derrick C.'s family rejected it. The family sought a due process hearing to resolve its challenge to the IEP, and it requested the Department to keep Derrick C. in the Walden School under the IDEA's stay-put provision in Part B, 20 U.S.C. § 1415(j), pending resolution of that dispute. The Department refused to do that.

During the time it took to resolve the IEP issues, Derrick C.'s parents kept him at the Walden School at their own expense. Derrick C.'s parents and the District resolved the IEP dispute in January 2000, when they agreed to continue Derrick C.'s placement at the Walden School. The District refused to reimburse Derrick C.'s family for the money it had spent keeping him at the Walden School during the dispute, because the District believed that duty fell on the Department. Derrick C. filed an administrative action against the District, seeking reimbursement of the money that had been spent to keep him at the Walden School while the issue involving his placement was being decided. Eventually, both Derrick C. and the District agreed that the reimbursement issue was between Derrick C. and the Department, so he added the Department as a party to the administrative action on January 20, 2000.

On February 18, 2000, the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) determined that "[the Department] is responsible for Derrick C.'s `stay-put' rights," and she ordered the Department to reimburse Derrick C. for the Walden School tuition, as well as for costs incurred for speech and language services for Derrick C. during the relevant period. According to Derrick C., from the end of February until August 2000, he tried to have the Department implement the ALJ's order, but the Department refused to do so.

It was not until August 14, 2000, almost six months after the ALJ entered her decision, that the Department filed its complaint in the district court appealing the ALJ's decision. Derrick C. moved the district court to dismiss on the ground that, among other things, the Department's action was barred by the applicable statute of limitations, which he contended is the 30-day limitations period provided in Georgia's Administrative Procedures Act, Ga.Code § 50-13-19(b). The district court disagreed, determining that the Department's lawsuit was most analogous to a claim under state law for monetary relief, which in Georgia carries a four-year statute of limitations. It denied the motion to dismiss on statute of limitations grounds.

On the merits, the parties filed cross-motions for summary judgment (although Derrick C. called his a motion for final judgment). The district court denied the Department's motion and granted Derrick C.'s, entering judgment in his favor based upon its conclusion that under the stay-put provision of Part B, 20 U.S.C. § 1415(j), Derrick C. is entitled to be reimbursed for the costs incurred for his placement while the issue of his Part B placement was being resolved. The Department appeals the judgment, arguing that the district court was wrong on the merits. Derrick C. defends the judgment on the merits and also on the ground that the Department's action in the district court was barred by the statute of limitations, anyway.¹

II. DISCUSSION

The Department filed its action in district court to challenge the ALJ's decision in favor of Derrick C. 176 days after the decision was issued. Whether that was too late depends upon which statute of limitations applies. If, as Derrick C. contends, the applicable limitations period is the 30-day one found in Georgia's Administrative Procedures Act, Ga.Code § 50-13-19(b), the Department's filing in district court was 146 days too late. If, as the Department contends, the applicable limitations period is the four-year one for unjust enrichment under Ga.Code § 9-3-25, then the action was filed soon enough and with three-and-a-half years to spare.

Because the IDEA does not contain a statute of limitations, see generally 20 U.S.C. § 1415(i); Cory D. ex rel. Diane D. v. Burke County Sch. Dist., 285 F.3d 1294, 1296 (11th Cir.2002), we "must borrow the statute of limitations from the most analogous state statute, provided the borrowed limitations period is not inconsistent with underlying federal policies." Cory D., 285 F.3d at 1297 (internal marks omitted). In doing that, we engage in a two-pronged analysis in which we "(1) determine which Georgia statute is most analogous to the IDEA, and (2) ensure the applicable limitations period is not inconsistent with the IDEA's objectives." Id.

The closest decision on point is the Cory D. one, where we answered the question of which statute of limitations applies to an action filed in district court to challenge the IDEA placement component of an ALJ's stay-put determination under Part B. One party touted the 30-day statute of limitations period borrowed from Georgia's APA, while the other espoused Georgia's two-year limitations period for personal injury claims. Id. at 1295. We picked the 30-day one from Georgia's APA. Id. at 1301.

We first determined which Georgia statute was most analogous to the IDEA by "look[ing] to whether the scope of judicial proceedings available to a plaintiff under each state act is similar to the review available under the IDEA." Id. at 1297 (internal marks omitted). Comparing the Georgia APA and the IDEA, we noted several similarities between their scopes of review, including the fact that both statutes: (1) provide for judicial review of agency determinations; (2) have reviewing courts "act[ ] in a quasi-appellate manner" and "rely heavily on the administrative record"; and (3) "mandate some level of deference to the findings of an agency's decision-maker." Id. In contrast, our comparison of the IDEA with an action for personal injury yielded no such similarities, because "an action for personal injury is an independent claim which does not involve review of administrative decisions." Id. at 1298. We concluded that "[a] civil action under the IDEA challenging an administrative hearing officer's education decision after a due process hearing, therefore, is more analogous to judicial review of an administrative appeal than to causes of action for personal injury. As a result, the Georgia APA is the most analogous state statute." Id.

We then turned to the second prong of the limitations period borrowing inquiry, which required us to determine if applying the Georgia APA's 30-day limitations period would be inconsistent with the IDEA's objectives. Id. We recognized that "[t]he fundamental objective of the IDEA is to empower disabled children to reach their fullest potential by providing a free education tailored to meet their individual needs." Id. Noting the "split between the circuits ... as to whether this objective is better served by a short or more lengthy limitations period for judicial appeals of final decisions by an educational agency," we agreed with those circuits favoring a short limitations period (the First, Second, Fourth, Seventh, and Ninth Circuits). Id. We concluded that "a relatively short limitations period best serves the policies underlying the IDEA," because "[t]he most effective means of ensuring disabled children receive an education tailored to meet their specific needs is to provide prompt resolution of disputes over a child's IEP." Id. at 1299. We held that the 30-day limitations period in Ga.Code § 50-13-19(b) applied.

The district court did not have the benefit of our Cory D. decision at the time it decided this case. If it had, we are confident that court would have reached the same decision we do, which is that Georgia's 30-day APA limitations period governs IDEA Part B stay-put reimbursement...