New Jersey Administrative Code › Title 1 - ADMINISTRATIVE LAW › Chapter 6A - SPECIAL EDUCATION PROGRAM › Subchapter 12 - MOTIONS › Section 1:6A-12.1 - Emergency relief pending settlement or decision

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 14, July 15, 2024
(a) As part of
				a hearing request, or at any time after a hearing is requested, the affected
				parent(s), guardian, board or public agency may apply in writing for emergency
				relief pending a settlement or decision on the matter. An emergency relief
				application shall set forth the specific relief sought and the specific
				circumstances which the applicant contends justifies under (e) below the relief
				sought. Each application shall be supported by an affidavit prepared by an
				affiant with personal knowledge of the facts contained therein and, if an
				expert's opinion is included, the affidavit shall specify the expert's
				qualifications.
(b) Prior to the
				transmittal of the hearing request to the Office of Administrative Law,
				applications for emergency relief shall be addressed to the State Director of
				the Office of Special Education Programs, with a copy to the other party. The
				Department shall forward to the Office of Administrative Law by the end of the
				next business day all emergency relief applications that meet the procedural
				requirements in (a) above and which set forth on the face of the application
				and affidavits circumstances which comply with the standards set forth in
				6A:14-2.7(r).
				Emergency relief applications which fail to comply with the procedural
				requirements above or which do not comply with the standards set forth in
				6A:14-2.7(r) 
				shall be processed by the Department in accordance with
				1:6A-9.1.
(c) After transmittal, applications for
				emergency relief must be made to the Office of Administrative Law, with a copy
				to the other party.
(d) The Office
				of Administrative Law shall schedule an emergency relief application hearing on
				the earliest date possible and shall notify all parties of this date. Except
				for extraordinary circumstances established by good cause, no adjournments
				shall be granted but the opponent to an emergency relief application may be
				heard by telephone on the date of the emergency relief hearing. If emergency
				relief is granted without all parties being heard, provision shall be made in
				the order for the absent parties to move for dissolution or modification on two
				days' notice. Such an order, granted without all parties being heard, may also
				provide for a continuation of the order up to 10 days.
(e) At the emergency relief hearing, the
				judge may allow the affidavits to be supplemented by testimony and/or oral
				argument. The judge may order emergency relief pending issuance of the decision
				in the matter or, for those issues specified in
				1:6A-14.2(a), may
				order a change in the placement of a student to an interim alternative
				educational setting for not more than 45 days in accordance with
				20 U.S.C. §
										1415(k)(2), if the judge
				determines from the proofs that:
1. The
				petitioner will suffer irreparable harm if the requested relief is not
				granted;
2. The legal right
				underlying the petitioner's claim is settled;
3. The petitioner has a likelihood of
				prevailing on the merits of the underlying claim; and
4. When the equities and interests of the
				parties are balanced, the petitioner will suffer greater harm than the
				respondent will suffer if the requested relief is not granted.