Opinion ID: 1373478
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The School District's Decision Relating to Further Suspensions

Text: We are unpersuaded by the Students' remaining argument that they are prevailing parties because they did not receive further suspensions subsequent to the September 15, 2004 hearing. The record amply supports the School District's characterization that its decision not to further suspend the Students was voluntary. Thus, because a voluntary change in behavior after the filing of the lawsuit is insufficient to confer prevailing-party status for purposes of granting attorney's fees, see Buckhannon, 532 U.S. at 605, 121 S.Ct. 1835 (holding that a voluntary change in behavior occurring after the filing of the lawsuit does not confer prevailing-party status on the plaintiffs), we reject the Students' argument as without merit. Until the District Court's 2006 decision, both the Students and the School District believed that no preliminary injunction had issued at the September 15, 2004 hearing. And because we conclude that there was no valid preliminary injunction issued, the only order made in this case, arguendo, was the temporary restraining order. However, even assuming that a temporary restraining order was entered at the September hearing, there was no court order that could have prevented the School District from suspending the Students between October 2004 and until the Students' graduation in June 2006. See Vacchio, 404 F.3d at 674 ([S]tatus as a prevailing party is conferred whenever there is a court ordered change in the legal relationship between the plaintiff and the defendant or a material alteration of the legal relationship of the parties. (alterations and internal quotation marks omitted) (emphasis added)). The School District's act of not suspending the Students was, therefore, entirely voluntary. Accordingly, the School District's voluntary change in behavior cannot serve as the basis for conferring prevailing-party status to the Students for purposes of granting attorney's fees.