Blackman v. District of Columbia

• Decision Date: 21 July 2006
• Docket Number: No. 04-7139.,No. 04-7147.,No. 04-7145.,No. 04-7144.,04-7139.,04-7144.,04-7145.,04-7147.
• Citation: 456 F.3d 167
• Parties: Mary Ann BLACKMAN, Mikeisha Blackman, by her mother and friend, et al., Appellees v. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, a municipal corporation, et al., Appellants Dora Chavez, in her own right and as parent and next friend of Erik Chavez, Appellee v. District of Columbia et al. Appellants Chawntavia Watkins, a minor, by her legal custodians and next friends Ethel and Joseph Harden, et al., Appellees v. Clifford B. Janey, in his official capacity CEO/Superintendent, D.C. Public Schools; District of Columbia, a municipal corporation, Appellants De'Mitria Rice, a minor, by her mother Alicia Rice, next friend, etc., Appellees v. Clifford B. Janey, in his official capacity, CEO/Superintendent, District of Columbia, Public Schools; District of Columbia, Appellants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — District of Columbia Circuit

456 F.3d 167

Mary Ann BLACKMAN, Mikeisha Blackman, by her mother and friend, et al., Appellees v. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, a municipal corporation, et al., Appellants Dora Chavez, in her own right and as parent and next friend of Erik Chavez, Appellee v. District of Columbia et al. Appellants Chawntavia Watkins, a minor, by her legal custodians and next friends Ethel and Joseph Harden, et al., Appellees v. Clifford B. Janey, in his official capacity CEO/Superintendent, D.C. Public Schools; District of Columbia, a municipal corporation, Appellants De'Mitria Rice, a minor, by her mother Alicia Rice, next friend, etc., Appellees v. Clifford B. Janey, in his official capacity, CEO/Superintendent, District of Columbia, Public Schools; District of Columbia, Appellants.

No. 04-7139.

No. 04-7144.

No. 04-7145.

No. 04-7147.

United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit.

Argued March 14, 2006.

Decided July 21, 2006.

Appeals from the United States District Court for the District of Columbia (No. 00cv00330) (No. 97cv01629) (No. 98cv03036) (No. 98cv03081).

Mary L. Wilson, Assistant Attorney General, District of Columbia, argued the cause for the appellants. Robert J. Spagnoletti, Attorney General and Edward E. Schwab, Deputy Attorney General, District of Columbia, were on brief.

Donna L. Wulkan and Daniel C. Lewis argued the cause for the appellees. Alan I. Horowitz, Steven R. Dixon, Elizabeth T. Jester and Tilman L. Gerald were on brief.

Before: HENDERSON and GARLAND, Circuit Judges, and EDWARDS, Senior Circuit Judge.

Opinion for the court filed by Circuit Judge HENDERSON.

KAREN LECRAFT HENDERSON, Circuit Judge.

Riders to appropriations acts the Congress enacts for the District of Columbia (District) limit the amount of attorney's fees a party may collect from the District after prevailing in a suit "under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act" (IDEA), 20 U.S.C. §§ 1400 et seq. The appellees¹ brought suit against the District under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 to enforce the IDEA's guarantee of a free appropriate public education. In three separate orders, the district court awarded them attorney's fees above the limits the rider imposed. The District appeals all three orders. Because the district court did not properly certify as final two of the orders, we lack jurisdiction over those two. Regarding the third order, we agree with the District's argument that an action brought pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 to enforce IDEA rights is a suit "under" the IDEA and thus subject to the rider. Accordingly, we reverse the district court as to that order and remand.

I.

In response to "the growth in legal expenses and litigation associated with special education in the District of Columbia and the usurping of resources from education to pay attorney fees," H.R.Rep. No. 105-670, at 50 (1998), the Congress attached a rider, section 130, to the Omnibus Consolidated and Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act of 1999, limiting the amount of fees the District could pay to prevailing parties in IDEA cases, see Omnibus Consolidated and Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act, 1999, Pub.L. No. 105-277, § 130, 112 Stat. 2681 (1998) (section 130). Specifically, section 130 prohibited any funds appropriated in the 1999 Appropriations Act from being used by the District to pay fees to any attorney prevailing against the DCPS in an action "under the [IDEA]" above the amount specified therein.² Id. The Congress attached virtually identical riders to subsequent appropriations acts for 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006.³ See Transportation, Treasury, Housing and Urban Development, the Judiciary, the District of Columbia, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, 2006, Pub.L. No. 109-115, § 122, 119 Stat. 2396, 2519 (2005); District of Columbia Appropriations Act, 2005, Pub.L. No. 108-335, § 327, 118 Stat. 1322, 1344 (2004); Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2004, Pub.L. No. 108-199, § 432, 118 Stat. 3, 141 (2004); Consolidated Appropriations Resolution, 2003, Pub.L. No. 108-7, § 144, 117 Stat. 11, 131-32 (2003); District of Columbia Appropriations Act, 2001, Pub.L. No. 106-522, § 122, 114 Stat. 2440, 2464 (2000); Consolidated Appropriations Resolution, 2000, Pub.L. No. 106-113, § 129, 113 Stat. 1501, 1517 (1999).⁴

In Calloway v. District of Columbia, 216 F.3d 1 (D.C.Cir.2000), we first interpreted the section 130 language.⁵ In that case, the District argued that section 130 prohibited the court from awarding fees above the cap. Id. at 9. We rejected the argument, finding that the rider only prohibited the District from paying attorney's fees greater than the prescribed amount but had no effect on the district court's authority to award higher fees. Under our Calloway holding, if the Congress should someday lift the fees cap provision, a prevailing party could then seek the unpaid fees above the cap nunc pro tunc. Id. at 9-11. Following Calloway, the Congress changed the statutory language in the 2002 District of Columbia Appropriations Act, section 140(a) of which provides:

Notwithstanding 20 U.S.C. 1415, 42 U.S.C.1988, 29 U.S.C. 794a, or any other law, none of the funds appropriated under this Act, or in appropriations Acts for subsequent fiscal years, may be made available to pay attorneys' fees accrued prior to the effective date of this Act that exceeds [sic] a cap imposed on attorneys' fees by prior appropriations Acts that were in effect during the fiscal year when the work was performed, or when payment was requested for work previously performed, in an action or proceeding brought against the District of Columbia Public Schools under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. [§§] 1400 et seq.).

District of Columbia Appropriations Act, 2002, Pub.L. No. 107-96, § 140(a), 115 Stat. 923, 958 (2001) (Section 140(a)).

The appellees instituted four separate section 1983 actions against the District, Blackman v. District of Columbia, No. 97-cv-1629, Chavez v. District of Columbia, No. 98-cv-3036, Watkins v. Vance, No. 98-cv-3081, and Rice v. Vance, No. 00-cv-0330, which the district court consolidated with other pending section 1983 class actions.⁶ The district court consolidated two of the actions, which were class actions, Blackman v. District of Columbia, No. 97-cv-1629, and Jones v. District of Columbia, No. 97-cv-2402, to form one class with two subclasses, only one of which, the Jones subclass, is applicable here:

[A]ll children, now and in the future, who are entitled to have DCPS provide them with a free appropriate public education [FAPE] and who have been denied same because DCPS either (a) has failed to fully and timely implement the determinations of hearing officers, or (b) failed to fully and timely implement agreements concerning a child's identification, evaluation, educational placement, or provision of FAPE that DCPS has negotiated with the child's parent or educational advocate.

Blackman v. District of Columbia, 328 F.Supp.2d 36, 39 (D.D.C.2004) (second alteration in original). The court consolidated Chavez with Blackman and Jones on March 19, 1999, see Chavez v. District of Columbia, No. 98-cv-3036 (D.D.C. March 19, 1999); Watkins on February 17, 1999, see Watkins v. Vance, No. 98-cv-3081 (D.D.C. Feb. 17, 1999); and Rice on February 29, 2000, see Rice v. Vance, No. 00-cv-330 (Feb. 29, 2000).⁷ All appellees are members of the Jones subclass.

On June 3, 1998, the district court granted partial summary judgment to the appellees on the liability issue. The court nonetheless declined to grant class-wide preliminary injunctive relief, believing that where "irreparable injury was threatened absent some action by the District, the District would not ignore its obligation to take such action [to remedy violations] even absent resolution of the claims of the class as a whole." Blackman v. District of Columbia, 185 F.R.D. 4, 5 (D.D.C.1999) (internal quotation marks omitted). By 2000, however, the district court was dissatisfied with the District's lack of response and therefore appointed a special master to assist it in handling individual preliminary injunction motions.

The appellees then moved for attorney's fees under section 1988(b). Section 1988(b) provides that "the court, in its discretion, may allow the prevailing party, other than the United States, a reasonable attorney's fee" in a section 1983 action. 42 U.S.C. § 1988(b). Before moving for attorney's fees, the Chavez and Watkins appellees had sought and obtained preliminary injunctive relief. The district court awarded fees to the Chavez and Watkins appellees based on the relief they obtained. See Chavez v. District of Columbia, No. 98-cv-3036 (D.D.C. March 31, 2000). The Blackman appellees, by contrast, did not obtain preliminary injunctive relief but instead had earlier reached private agreements with the DCPS, which the DCPS then failed to honor. After the district court appointed the special master, the Blackman appellees sought a preliminary injunction to require the DCPS to comply with the respective agreements. Before the special master acted, the Blackman appellees reached new agreements with the DCPS, whereby the latter agreed to implement the original agreements. The special master therefore recommended to the court that their motions for preliminary injunctions be denied and the district court agreed. See Blackman, 328 F.Supp.2d at 40. The Blackman appellees then sought attorney's fees under 42 U.S.C. § 1988(b). The District argued that the Blackman appellees were not "prevailing parties" within the meaning of section 1988(b) because they had neither obtained a favorable ruling at the administrative level nor obtained injunctive relief from the district court, citing the Supreme Court's decision in Buckhannon Board & Care Home, Inc. v. West Virginia Department of Health & Human Resources, 532 U.S. 598, 121 S.Ct. 1835, 149 L.Ed.2d 855 (2001). The district court disagreed, concluding that the Blackman appellee...