Opinion ID: 6497375
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: procedural history and

Text: JURISDICTIONAL ANALYSIS While they continued to have C.M. evaluated, C.M.’s parents also formally challenged Summit’s adverse eligibility decision from February 8, 2016. They did so by filing a due process complaint on May 25, 2016, with the Office of Special Education of New Jersey’s Department of Education. See 20 U.S.C. § 1415(b)(7). That complaint alleged violations of the IDEA and § 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. The due process complaint prompted an impartial due process hearing, see 20 U.S.C. § 1415(f)(1)(A), which took place over several dates between July 2017 and June 2018. Seven witnesses testified at the hearing. Both parties introduced documentary evidence that Summit’s staff considered at the time of the eligibility determination. C.M.’s parents introduced the later-prepared reports from Dr. McGuffog and Fichtelberg, but the hearing officer did not consider them in reaching his determination because Summit “did not have this information available at the time of the initial determination.” Hearing Officer Final Decision at 18 (Oct. 12, 2018) (JA50). In October 2018 – about fourteen months after Summit had formalized an IEP for C.M. – the hearing officer issued a decision upholding Summit’s determination that C.M. was not eligible for special education as of February 8, 2016. In reaching that conclusion, the hearing officer found that Summit’s witnesses were “very credible,” id. at 17 (JA49), but he discounted the testimony from C.M.’s mother and Dr. McGuffog. The problems with C.M.’s mother’s testimony were that she was “combative and obstinate,” she “seemed to not want to respond,” and she “hesitated sometimes when answering simple questions.” Id. The hearing officer also did not afford a great deal of weight to Dr. McGuffog’s testimony on several grounds: she “appeared upset” that her recommendations were not implemented; she dismissed 12 C.M.’s report cards without proper justification; and, with respect to at least one issue, she did not convey “[a] fair reading of her first report.” Id. at 18 (JA50). Substantively, after reviewing Summit’s evaluations and considering C.M.’s positive responses to the interventions, the hearing officer concluded that Summit had satisfied its child-find obligations as of February 8, 2016. In March 2020, about a year and a half after the hearing officer’s dismissal of the due process complaint – and after C.M.’s parents had enrolled him in private school in July 2019 – C.M.’s parents initiated this civil action in the District Court. They claimed that Summit violated the IDEA and § 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and they sought several forms of relief. Those included compensatory education for the time when C.M. was allegedly denied a FAPE (February 2016 through August 2017), an order requiring Summit to amend C.M.’s IEP to include services and interventions that Dr. McGuffog and Fichtelberg recommended after the February 2016 eligibility decision, and reimbursement for the costs of C.M.’s privateschool education. By asserting those claims, the complaint fell within the District Court’s subject matter jurisdiction. See 20 U.S.C. § 1415(i)(2)(A), (3)(A) (allowing parties aggrieved by the decision of a hearing officer after an IDEA due process hearing to file a civil action in federal district court); 28 U.S.C. § 1331; Mengine v. Runyon, 114 F.3d 415, 418 (3d Cir. 1997) (recognizing that 28 U.S.C. § 1331 grants district courts jurisdiction over Rehabilitation Act claims). The parties cross-moved for summary judgment, and the District Court ruled in Summit’s favor. It held that Summit satisfied its child-find obligation and did not violate § 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. The District Court also refused to enter a declaratory judgment that Summit was responsible for C.M.’s private-school tuition because that claim had not been exhausted administratively. Finally, the District Court rejected the parents’ arguments that the hearing officer’s credibility judgments were improper, that the McGuffog and Fichtelberg 13 post hoc reports should be considered, and that Summit had to amend its IEP. The parents timely appealed the District Court’s final order, bringing this case within this Court’s appellate jurisdiction. See 28 U.S.C. § 1291.