Opinion ID: 201492
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Involvement of the BSEA Hearing Officer

Text: 34 The judicial involvement in this case came in the form of a series of orders and rulings by the BSEA Hearing Officer that memorialized the voluntary concessions made by Fitchburg and attempted to keep the settlement process moving forward in a timely manner. 12 At the time the orders were imposed, the BSEA Hearing Officer had not yet joined issue on the question of Chelsea's substantive entitlement to an IEP because the BSEA Hearing Officer had not yet convened a due process hearing. The issue before the BSEA Hearing Officer at the time of her orders and rulings was simply whether she should continue to promote settlement efforts or, instead, take immediate action on the parents' request for a due process hearing under 20 U.S.C. § 1415(f). Thus, it appears from the record that the BSEA Hearing Officer's orders and rulings were issued to justify the BSEA Hearing Officer's implicit decision to delay the due process hearing in favor of private settlement, not to place the weight of judicial authority behind Fitchburg's substantive concession that Chelsea was entitled to an IEP. 35 To be sure, standing alone, the BSEA Hearing Officer's December 20, 2001 ruling requiring Fitchburg to convene a IEP meeting in no event ... later than January 11, 2002 might be viewed as an order, similar to the order in T.D., 349 F.3d at 480, compelling Fitchburg to convene an IEP meeting because the Hearing Officer determined Fitchburg was legally required to do so under the IDEA. A closer look at the record, however, reveals that this was merely a ruling memorializing a substantive concession by Fitchburg and an effort to keep pre-hearing settlement negotiations moving forward. Without being compelled to do so by the BSEA Hearing Officer, Fitchburg had orally (and voluntarily) agreed to convene an IEP meeting on December 12, 2001 during the December 4, 2001 BSEA Hearing Officer-initiated conference call. When Fitchburg failed to convene the meeting on December 12, Chelsea filed a motion requesting that the BSEA Hearing Officer order Fitchburg to convene the meeting. Significantly, Fitchburg did not oppose the motion. Thus, when the BSEA Hearing Officer issued its ruling stating that Fitchburg will use its best efforts to convene the TEAM on January 4, 2002 but in no event ... any later than January 11, 2002, the officer was mandating that Fitchburg convene a TEAM meeting by a specified date. The BSEA Hearing Officer never reviewed the merits of whether Fitchburg was required under the IDEA to convene the IEP meeting; the Hearing Officer only was requiring Fitchburg to follow through with what Fitchburg had already voluntarily promised to do. 36 Lastly, we note that in this case, the BSEA Hearing Officer can be described as being simply efficient and business-like, forcing Fitchburg to move more rapidly. It is not clear from the record that Fitchburg was being willfully obstructionist. And, at no point did Fitchburg refuse to comply with an order of the BSEA Hearing Officer, nor was the Hearing Officer ever compelled to make good on her threats of sanctions against Fitchburg. Thus, we need not today foreclose the possibility that such judicial intervention in a clearer, or more extreme, case might justify an award of attorneys' fees under Buckhannon.