Kalbfleisch v. Columbia Community Unit Sch.
| Decision Date | 16 December 2009 |
| Docket Number | No. 5-09-0447.,5-09-0447. |
| Citation | 920 N.E.2d 651,336 Ill. Dec. 442 |
| Parties | Carter KALBFLEISCH, by and Through His Next Friends, Christopher KALBFLEISCH and Melissa Kalbfleisch, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. COLUMBIA COMMUNITY UNIT SCHOOL DISTRICT UNIT NO. 4, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | United States Appellate Court of Illinois |
Christi L. Flaherty, David L. Mannix, Guin, Martin & Mundorf, LLC, Collinsville, IL, for Appellant.
Anthony P. Gilbreth, Clay B. St. Clair, Crowder & Scoggins, Ltd., Columbia, IL, Lisa Madigan, Attorney General of Illinois, Michael A. Scodro, Solicitor General, Jane Elinor Notz, Deputy Solicitor General, Erin Ipjian, Benjamin Johnson, Assistant Attorneys General, Chicago, IL, Amicus Curiae Brief—for The People of the State of Illinois.
This is an interlocutory appeal taken pursuant to Supreme Court Rule 307(a)(1) (188 Ill.2d R. 307(a)(1)). At issue in this case is whether the Monroe County circuit court properly ordered a preliminary injunction to compel the defendant-appellant, Columbia Community Unit School District Unit No. 4 (the school district), to permit the plaintiff-appellee, Carter Kalbfleisch, a five-year-old child with autism, to bring his service dog with him to school pursuant to section 14-6.02 of the School Code (105 ILCS 5/14-6.02 (West 2008)).
On July 17, 2009, Carter, by his next friends, Christopher Kalbfleisch and Melissa Kalbfleisch, filed a verified complaint for injunctive relief and a verified motion for a preliminary injunction, claiming that he had a right under section 14-6.02 of the School Code (the service animal statute) to bring his service dog with him to Parkview Elementary School (the school). That section provides as follows:
"Service animals such as guide dogs, signal dogs[,] or any other animal individually trained to perform tasks for the benefit of a student with a disability shall be permitted to accompany that student at all school functions, whether in or outside the classroom." 105 ILCS 5/14-6.02 (West 2008).
On July 21, 2009, the school district filed a notice of removal, alleging that the case arose under federal law, and the case was removed to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois (the district court). Carter filed a motion to remand, and on August 5, 2009, the district court granted the motion and remanded the case to the circuit court after finding that Carter's claim did not arise under and was not preempted by federal law. Kalbfleisch v. Columbia Community Unit School District Unit No. 4, 644 F.Supp.2d 1084 (S.D.Ill.2009).
On August 13, 2009, the school district filed a motion to dismiss the verified complaint for injunctive relief and the motion for a preliminary injunction, contending that because Carter failed to exhaust his administrative remedies, the circuit court lacked jurisdiction over the subject matter in the complaint and the motion for a preliminary injunction. On August 19, 2009, the circuit court held a hearing on the school district's motion to dismiss. The court denied the motion and gave the school district leave to file its answer that day. After a brief recess, the school district filed its answer.
The next day, the court held a hearing on Carter's motion for a preliminary injunction, where the following evidence was presented.
Carter's mother, the only witness to testify on Carter's behalf, stated that Carter was diagnosed with medium-to-severe autism at 18 months of age. She described Carter's behavior prior to having his service dog as follows: Carter was prone to having tantrums on a daily basis; he suffered from an eating disorder called pica, a pattern of eating nonfood materials; he would refuse to walk when he was taken to public places; he sporadically would take off running; he could not fall asleep on his own and, once asleep, woke up approximately every hour; he did not communicate with anyone; and he was unable to focus.
She said Carter's tantrums involved kicking, screaming, and biting, often occurred at dinner and would last approximately one hour, and also occurred in the morning at least three times per week and would last approximately two hours. She testified that because of Carter's eating disorder he had tried to eat such items as rocks, mulch, grass, trash, cleaning supplies, batteries, and coins and had drunk from the toilet. She indicated that when the family would take Carter to public places, such as parks, stores, and restaurants, Carter would throw himself down on the ground and refuse to walk. As a result, Carter's family was unable to take him to public places, and the family was homebound.
She said that Carter had a tendency to sporadically take off running, sometimes into a pond near their house or into a nearby road with traffic, that Carter would not fall asleep on his own and would wake up about every hour, and that because of this, she had to sleep in his bed with him for the previous two years. She said that if she did leave his room after he had fallen asleep, she would lock his bedroom door to give her more time to respond if Carter woke up and tried to leave the room. On one occasion, however, she was not able to respond quickly enough, and Carter was able to get out of the home and into the pond in the middle of winter.
She testified that Carter did not communicate with other students on his own and that he did not speak any meaningful words but would mumble different sounds. She described getting Carter to focus as almost impossible. She stated he would distract himself by self-stimulation, or stimming, with his hands or other objects, and would stare off into the distance when people tried to communicate with him.
She stated that when Carter was around three years old, his doctor suggested that Carter obtain a service dog. After Carter's mother researched the issue and exhausted all other possibilities, Carter's family decided to apply for a service dog with Wilderwood Service Dogs (Wilderwood), a company that provided service dogs trained to aid patients with neurological disorders. Carter's application was extensive, and once approved, he was placed on a two-year waiting list for a service dog. Carter has a prescription for a service dog from two different doctors.
She testified that after Carter's application had been accepted, Carter's family sent in a video of Carter and a sample of his worn clothing. She indicated that these articles were used to train Carter's service dog, Corbin, to become acquainted with Carter's appearance, voice, and smell. It was Carter's mother's understanding that Corbin would sleep with Carter's clothing and would watch the video of Carter repeatedly. She stated that Corbin was trained to understand 70 commands and was specifically trained for Carter's pica, impulse running, night awakenings, and tantrums. She stated that Corbin is a Bouvier breed, which is considered to be a hypoallergenic dog. Carter's mother understood this to mean that people who are allergic to dogs with fur would not be allergic to hypoallergenic dogs because they have hair rather than fur.
On July 16, 2009, after approximately two years of being on a waiting list, Carter received Corbin. Wilderwood brought Corbin to Carter's area so that Carter's mother and father and anyone from the school could be trained to handle him. The training lasted eight days, totaling approximately 80 hours, and Carter's mother and father attended the entire training. Carter's aide at school also attended the training for two hours.
After the training, Carter's mother and father took an examination and passed. They are currently awaiting their certificates from the State of Illinois for completing the training and passing the examination. As a result of the training, Carter's mother and father are certified dog handlers. According to Carter's mother, this means she is qualified to train other people in their own comfortable environment. For example, she could train her mother to handle Corbin in her mother's home but not anywhere else. She said that as of the time of her testimony no one at the school was trained to handle Corbin but that she was able and willing to train the staff to do so and was willing to remain with Carter and Corbin at school if needed.
She testified that after having Corbin for a month or so, Carter was a much happier child; that his tantrums have minimized to a couple per week and his recovery time has been reduced to minutes, compared to the half hour to hour it used to take to reconcile the situation; that Corbin will physically take Carter down if he takes off running into a dangerous situation, like into traffic, and as a result, Carter does not try running for the road anymore; that by the third night of training, Carter was able to sleep without his mother in the room because Corbin would calm him when he woke up; that Corbin draws Carter out of his stimming by batting him with his nose, which allows Carter to focus more; that the family was able to take Carter to Six Flags without incident and on a weekend vacation to Mark Twain Lake; and that on the second-to-last day of training, Carter, for the first time in his life, used meaningful words when he told Corbin to "wait" and "hold."
She also testified that when Carter's grandfather was hospitalized, Carter and Corbin were separated for a few days for about eight hours a day. She said that this disrupted their working relationship because Corbin was not responding to his commands and that Carter went back to having more tantrums. She stated that after a few days of coaching, their relationship was back to normal. She testified that, in her opinion, separating Carter and Corbin would greatly harm their working relationship and that if they are separated, Corbin would become a pet, as opposed to a service animal, and Carter would suffer. She stated that Carter and Corbin share a working relationship and a very...
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