Opinion ID: 4566339
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Board’s Concession

Text: When a party makes a concession on appeal as to an issue of law or fact, we typically accept or assume the accuracy of the concession without question. This practice permits the parties to frame the litigation. It also gives us flexibility in our decision-making process. But “the concession of a point on appeal by [a party] is by no means dispositive of a legal issue.” Roberts v. Galen of Va., Inc., 525 U.S. 249, 253 (1999). A court is “not required to accept such a concession when the law and record do not justify it.” United States v. Linville, 228 F.3d 1330, 1331 n.2 (11th Cir. 2000). That is the case here. As we explain below, the Board’s concession that an FBA is an evaluation for the purpose of triggering a parent’s right to an IEE at public expense is contrary to the plain language of the IDEA and its implementing regulations. If we were to blindly accept the Board’s concession, our decision might mislead similarly situated parents and schools into misunderstanding and misapplying the IDEA’s evaluation procedures. That risk is too great. 20 Accordingly, we reject the Board’s concession and conduct nostra sponte a review of the issue on the merits.