Waterman v. MARQUETTE-ALGER INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL D.

• Citation: 739 F. Supp. 361
• Decision Date: 22 May 1990
• Docket Number: No. M89-10127 CA.,M89-10127 CA.
• Parties: Kary WATERMAN, by Freda J. WATERMAN as her Next Friend; Mary Denney, by Norma J. Denney as her Next Friend; Erin Hill, by Joanne L. Hill as her Next Friend; Christopher Waters, by Patricia S. Waters as his Next Friend; David Vahama, by Susan M. Vahama as his Next Friend; Jeffrey Peters, by Beverly Peters as his Next Friend, Plaintiffs, v. The MARQUETTE-ALGER INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL DISTRICT; Louis Myefski, Superintendent of the Marquette-Alger Intermediate School District; June Schaefer, Director of Special Education for the Marquette-Alger Intermediate School District; Jeffrey Miller, Supervisor for Classroom Programs/Pre-school Marquette-Alger Intermediate School District; Linda Dompierre, Teacher in the Marquette-Alger Intermediate School District; and Matthew Fields, Teacher in the Marquette-Alger Intermediate School District, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Michigan

739 F. Supp. 361

Kary WATERMAN, by Freda J. WATERMAN as her Next Friend; Mary Denney, by Norma J. Denney as her Next Friend; Erin Hill, by Joanne L. Hill as her Next Friend; Christopher Waters, by Patricia S. Waters as his Next Friend; David Vahama, by Susan M. Vahama as his Next Friend; Jeffrey Peters, by Beverly Peters as his Next Friend, Plaintiffs, v. The MARQUETTE-ALGER INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL DISTRICT; Louis Myefski, Superintendent of the Marquette-Alger Intermediate School District; June Schaefer, Director of Special Education for the Marquette-Alger Intermediate School District; Jeffrey Miller, Supervisor for Classroom Programs/Pre-school Marquette-Alger Intermediate School District; Linda Dompierre, Teacher in the Marquette-Alger Intermediate School District; and Matthew Fields, Teacher in the Marquette-Alger Intermediate School District, Defendants.

No. M89-10127 CA.

United States District Court, W.D. Michigan, N.D.

May 22, 1990.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Paul A. Peterson, Steward, Peterson, Sheridan and Nancarrow, Ishpeming, Mich., Stewart R. Hakola, Michigan Protection & Advocacy Service, Marquette, Mich., for plaintiffs.

Michael B. Farrell, Thrun, Maatsch & Nordberg, P.C., Lansing, Mich., for Marquette-Alger Intermediate School Dist., Louis Myefski, June Schaefer and Jeffrey Miller.

Keith E. Swanson, Marquette, Mich., for Linda Dompierre and Matthew Fields.

W. John Stenton, Ronald D. Keefe, Marquette, Mich., for Alger-Marquette Intermediate School Dist., Louis Myefski, June Schaefer and Jeffery Miller.

OPINION

HILLMAN, Chief Judge.

This case involves disturbing allegations of excessive and abusive discipline of mentally impaired children at the Pineview School in Palmer, Michigan, during the 1986-87 and 1987-88 school years. Plaintiffs, appearing through their parents and next friends, are six Pineview special education students who allegedly suffered inappropriate discipline ranging from bodily humiliation and the withholding of food and medicine to repeated physical assault. Defendants Linda Dompierre and Matthew Fields are the teachers who allegedly disciplined the plaintiffs. Defendants Louis Myefski, June Schaefer, and Jeffrey Miller are the supervisors who allegedly adopted the customs and policies that allowed Dompierre and Fields to act. Defendant Marquette-Alger Intermediate School District (MAISD) employs the individual defendants. The discipline at issue formed the basis of a state criminal prosecution against Dompierre. She was apparently acquitted of charges not specified in the record of this case.

Plaintiffs assert causes of action under the Education of the Handicapped Act (EHA), 20 U.S.C. § 1401 et seq., as amended, section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. § 794, as amended, section one of the Ku Klux or Civil Rights Act of 1871, 42 U.S.C. § 1983, as amended, and Michigan tort law. They seek declaratory and injunctive relief, compensatory damages, costs and attorneys' fees. The matter is before the court on defendants' motions to dismiss for failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted, or in the alternative, for summary judgment. Fed. R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6), 56.

The court will treat those portions of defendants' post-answer motions that attack plaintiffs' section 504, section 1983, and EHA damages claims as motions for judgment on the pleadings under Rule 12(c). Scheid v. Fanny Farmer Candy Shops, Inc., 859 F.2d 434, 436 n. 1 (6th Cir.1988). The court will treat the portions of the motions concerning exhaustion of EHA administrative remedies as motions for summary judgment, because on this issue both plaintiffs and defendants refer to matters outside the pleadings. Fed.R. Civ.P. 12(c). The court reviews a motion for judgment on the pleadings according to the same substantive standard as a motion to dismiss, as set forth in Scheid. 859 F.2d at 436-37. For an exhaustive discussion of the review standard applicable to summary judgment motions, see Street v. J.C. Bradford & Co., 886 F.2d 1472, 1476-81 (6th Cir.1989).

As detailed below, the court holds that the parties must return this matter to state and local authorities to exhaust adequate and available EHA administrative remedies. This holding counsels against any present action on plaintiffs' section 504 and section 1983 claims. Consequently, this opinion will address only EHA issues. The court will dismiss without prejudice defendants' motions for judgment on the pleadings on the section 504 and section 1983 claims. Defendants may renew these motions if they wish upon their return to this court following the administrative proceedings.

I. EHA Damages

This court held seven years ago that "monetary damages are not recoverable by a plaintiff bringing suit to vindicate rights conferred by the EHA." Sanders by Sanders v. Marquette Public Schools, 561 F.Supp. 1361, 1366 (W.D.Mich.1983). The court acknowledged in Sanders that some courts recognize a damages remedy under the EHA in certain exceptional circumstances, but it concluded that the better authority did not allow "any circumstances in which the reviewing court could award monetary damages." 561 F.Supp. at 1367 (emphasis in original).

Plaintiffs point out that since Sanders some federal district courts have continued to find that EHA damages might be available in exceptional cases. See, e.g., Barwacz v. Michigan Department of Education, 674 F.Supp. 1296, 1307 (W.D.Mich. 1987) (Enslen, J.); Gerasimou by Gerasimou v. Ambach, 636 F.Supp. 1504, 1511-12 (E.D.N.Y.1986). These courts have relied, however, on Anderson v. Thompson, 658 F.2d 1205 (7th Cir.1981), a case whose reasoning this court declined to follow in Sanders. 561 F.Supp. at 1361. Moreover, other state and federal courts have followed this court's exceptionless no-damages ruling in Sanders. See, e.g., Smith v. Philadelphia School District, 679 F.Supp. 479, 484 (E.D.Pa.1988); Woolcott v. State Board of Education, 134 Mich.App. 555, 351 N.W.2d 601, 606 (1984). No decision of the United States Supreme Court or the Sixth Circuit has undermined Sanders' continuing vitality, nor has any court cogently criticized Sanders' reasoning. The court has reexamined that reasoning, and finds its earlier conclusions sound. Accordingly, for the reasons stated in Sanders' as well as reasons of stare decisis, the court will grant defendants judgment on the pleadings on plaintiffs' EHA damages claim.

II. EHA Exhaustion

No doubt exists that EHA plaintiffs must exhaust their adequate and available state and local administrative remedies before seeking relief in state or federal court. Doe by and through Doe v. Smith, 879 F.2d 1340, 1343-44 (6th Cir. 1989), cert. denied sub nom. Doe v. Sumner County Board of Education, ___ U.S. ___, 110 S.Ct. 730, 107 L.Ed.2d 749 (1990); Crocker v. Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Ass'n, 873 F.2d 933, 935-36 (6th Cir.1989). Additionally, EHA exhaustion must occur before plaintiffs may file an action under any other federal law seeking relief that is also available under the EHA. 20 U.S.C. § 1415(f); Hayes v. Unified School District No. 377, 877 F.2d 809, 812 (10th Cir.1989). In the present case, plaintiffs' actions under section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and section 1983 seek relief that is also available under the EHA. This is because all of plaintiffs' claims arise from defendants' allegedly excessive disciplinary acts and practices, and complaints about classroom discipline of special education students are cognizable under the EHA. As the Tenth Circuit stated in Hayes:

... the discipline of a child in the classroom ... is a matter that relates to the public education of a handicapped child and that therefore falls within the scope of the EHA. See 20 U.S.C. § 1415(b)(1)(E). Because the disciplinary measures complained of here are within the purview of the EHA, the plaintiffs are required to present their complaints concerning such disciplinary action according to the procedures set forth by the EHA, whether or not they bring additional causes of action "under the Constitution, title V of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, or other federal statutes protecting the rights of handicapped children and youth," 20 U.S.C. § 1415(f). Congress has determined that the agency charged with developing and instituting a child's individualized educational program must be given the first opportunity to address matters relating to that educational program.

877 F.2d at 813.

Accordingly, none of plaintiffs' claims may go forward in this court unless they have exhausted the EHA administrative process. The fact that plaintiffs seek a particular type of relief, money damages, not available under EHA in light of Sanders, is immaterial. To hold otherwise would allow EHA plaintiffs to frustrate Congressional purpose by bypassing the administrative process in virtually every case containing EHA, section 504, or section 1983 damages claims. See Brandon E. v. Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, 595 F.Supp. 740, 745 (E.D.Wis. 1984) (unavailability of EHA damages relief does not alter exhaustion requirement).

In Michigan, the EHA is implemented by the Mandatory Special Education Act, codified at Article 3 of the School Code of 1976, Mich.Comp.Laws Ann. § 380.1701 et seq., as amended. In accordance with this statute, the Michigan Department of Education has promulgated rules to govern the administrative disposition of EHA claims. These rules are now codified at Part 2 and Part 8 of the Department's special education rules, Mich.Ad.Code 1979, 1980-87 Annual Ad.Code Supp., R. 340.1721 et seq., R. 340.1851 et seq.

The Part 8 rules generally provide in pertinent part that a private individual may file with an intermediate school district (ISD) a written complaint concerning a violation of the EHA by the ISD. R. 340.1851(1); R. 340.1701(g)(iii). Following its receipt of a complaint, the ISD must give a copy of Part 8 to the complainant and immediately investigate the complaint. R....