Opinion ID: 773771
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Statute of Limitations for S.V.'s Claim

Text: 10 In order to select a statute of limitations here, we first must characterize S.V.'s claim. S.V. seeks reimbursement for tuition expenses incurred when the School District allegedly breached its duty under the IDEA to provide him with a free appropriate public education. Thus, consistent with our decision in Dreher, S.V.'s claim can be characterized as a claim arising from a liability created by statute. 11 Our next step is to identify the Oregon statute of limitations that applies to claims analogous to S.V.'s. Oregon law provides two potentially applicable statutes of limitations. The first, and the one adopted by the district court, is ORS §§ 12.080(2), which states that [a]n action upon a liability created by statute, other than a penalty or forfeiture,. . . shall be commenced within six years. 12 The second potentially applicable statute of limitations, and the one applied by the hearing officer, is the two-year period contained in the Oregon Tort Claims Act (OTCA), ORS §§§§ 30.260 to 30.302. Under Oregon law, a claim alleging a public body's breach of duty imposed by statute is governed by the OTCA. See ORS §§§§ 30.260(8) (defining tort) and 30.265 (discussing the scope of the OTCA). With two exceptions that do not apply to this case, the limitations period for any claim to which the OTCA applies is two years. ORS §§ 30.275(8). The Oregon Court of Appeals has held specifically that this two-year limitations period applies to a claim against a public body arising from a breach of duties imposed by a federal statute. See Butterfield v. Oregon, 987 P.2d 569, 574-75 (Or. Ct. App. 1999) (holding that the OTCA limitations period applied to a claim alleging a breach of the Fair Labor Standards Act by the state). 13 As discussed above, S.V. asserts that the School District is liable for his tuition because it breached its statutory duty to provide a free appropriate public education. The School District is unquestionably a public body. ORS §§ 30.260(4)(b). Because the IDEA, and not a contract or a quasi-contract, is the source of the School District's alleged duty to S.V., his claim falls within the statutory definition of a tort: 14 [T]he breach of a legal duty that is imposed by law, other than a duty arising from contract or quasi- contract, the breach of which results in injury to a specific person or persons for which the law provides a civil right of action for damages or for a protective remedy. 15 ORS §§ 30.260(8). Under that definition, S.V.'s claim is a tort within the meaning of the OTCA whether his requested remedy for breach of statutory duty is characterized as damages or as equitable relief. 16 Thus, we are confronted with a choice between two statutes of limitations, both of which, by their terms, could apply to S.V.'s claim. We adopt the limitations period in the OTCA for two reasons. First, the OTCA statute of limitations applies specifically to claims alleging breaches of statutory duty by school districts and other public bodies. By contrast, ORS §§ 12.080 is a general, catchall statute of limitations that applies broadly to any claim alleging a liability created by statute for which no other limitations period is provided. It is a well-established tenet of statutory construction that a specific statute controls over a general statute. United States v. Navarro, 160 F.3d 1254, 1256-57 (9th Cir. 1998); Davis v. Wasco Intermediate Educ. Dist., 593 P.2d 1152, 1158 (Or. 1979). 17 Second, a two-year limitations period is consistent with both the policy underlying the IDEA and with the limitations periods adopted by most other circuits. A six-year period is not. 18 The Eighth Circuit recently decided whether to apply a five-year or a two-year statute of limitations to an IDEA claim. Strawn, 210 F.3d at 957. Although both statutes arguably encompassed IDEA claims, the court adopted the two- year statute after concluding that the five-year statute would frustrate public policy. Id. at 957-58. In reaching its conclusion, the court summarized the policy underlying the IDEA: 19 The statutory framework of the IDEA and the statute's purpose show that a five-year statute of limitations would frustrate the federal policy of quick resolution of IDEA claims. The IDEA provides for substantial parental involvement in the IEP [individualized educational program] process, annual reviews, and annual notice to parents of procedural rights. See 20 U.S.C. §§ 1414(d)[(1)](B)(i) (parents must be part of IEP team); 20 U.S.C. §§ 1414(d)(4)(A)(i) (annual review); 20 U.S.C. §§ 1415(b)-(d) (notice of procedural rights). This statutory scheme mandating parental participation in an annual decision-making process demonstrates that Congress intended for parents to be actively implicated in the expeditious resolution of IDEA concerns. In addition, children protected by the IDEA benefit greatly from quick resolution of disputes because lost education is a substantial harm, and that harm is exactly what the IDEA was meant to prevent. 20 Id. at 957. The court concluded that a two-year statute of limitations served those policies: It was short enough to allow expeditious resolution of claims, but long enough to allow parents the opportunity to protect their disabled children's rights. Id. at 958. 21 We agree with the Eighth Circuit's interpretation of the policy underlying the IDEA. Moreover, its choice of a two- year limitations period is in accord with the lengths of limitations periods approved by most other courts. See James v. Upper Arlington City Sch. Dist., 228 F.3d 764, 769 (6th Cir. 2000) (holding that either a four-year or a two-year limitations period applies to claims under the IDEA in Ohio for tuition reimbursement; either way, the claims were time- barred); Birmingham v. Omaha Sch. Dist., 220 F.3d 850, 856 (8th Cir. 2000) (holding that the three-year statute of limitations applicable to §§ 1983 actions in Arkansas governed IDEA claims); Manning, 176 F.3d at 239 (holding that, in Virginia, a one-year limitations period applies to a request for an administrative hearing on a claim alleging a violation of the IDEA). But see CM v. Board of Educ., 241 F.3d 374, 379- 80 (4th Cir. 2001) (applying a 60-day limitations period contained in a North Carolina statute enacted specifically to address IDEA claims); Murphy, 22 F.3d at 1192-93 (applying New Hampshire's catchall six-year statute of limitations to a claim for compensatory education under the IDEA). 22 In sum, a two-year limitations period supports the IDEA's policies of expeditious resolution of disputes and ongoing parental involvement in the education of disabled children. A six-year statute of limitations would frustrate that policy by permitting parents to wait for up to half the total length of a child's primary and secondary educational experience before raising a claim that the school district had failed to provide the student with a free appropriate public education and was liable for private-school tuition. For all these reasons, ORS §§ 30.275(8) provides a limitations period of an appropriate length.