In Avila v. Spokane School Dist. 81, published March 30, 2017, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the dismissal of claims under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act as time-barred. The Administrative Law Judge who heard the plaintiff's parents' due process complaint under the IDEA ruled that claims based on occurrences that took place more than two years before the parents filed their due process complaint were barred by the IDEA's two-year statute of limitations. The district court agreed.
In a matter of first impression, the 9th Circuit sought to harmonize two provisions of the IDEA that set forth statutes of limitations. 20 U.S.C. § 1415(f)(3)(C) prescribes that parents shall request a due process hearing "within 2 years of the date the parent or agency knew or should have known about the alleged action that forms the basis of the complaint . . . ." 20 U.S.C. § 1415(b)(6)(B) prescribes that parents have an opportunity to present a complaint "which sets forth an alleged violation that occurred not more than 2 years before the date the parent or public agency knew or should have known about the alleged action that forms the basis of the complaint . . . ." The court rejected a "2+2" interpretation under which the parents have two years from discovery to file a complaint about actions that occurred up to two years before discovery. Instead, the 9th Circuit concluded that under the IDEA, the statute of limitations for parents to file a due process complaint is two years from the date they knew or should have known of the alleged actions that form the basis of the complaint.
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