{"id":20236,"date":"2017-02-09T09:00:29","date_gmt":"2017-02-09T13:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/?p=20236"},"modified":"2019-09-16T12:36:26","modified_gmt":"2019-09-16T16:36:26","slug":"parents-win-in-the-ninth-circuit-court-of-appeals-timothy-o-v-paso-robles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/parents-win-in-the-ninth-circuit-court-of-appeals-timothy-o-v-paso-robles\/","title":{"rendered":"Parents Win in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals: Timothy O v. Paso Robles"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_pop\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/gallery\/share-button-gray.png\" style=\"border:0px\" alt=\"Share\" \/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\");var hupso_icon_type = \"labels\";var hupso_background=\"#FFFFFF\";var hupso_border=\"#FFFFFF\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_twitter_via=\"wrightslaw\";var hupso_url=\"\";var hupso_title=\"Parents%20Win%20in%20the%20Ninth%20Circuit%20Court%20of%20Appeals%3A%20Timothy%20O%20v.%20Paso%20Robles\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div><p>In <em>TImothy O. v. Paso Robles<\/em> (May 2016), Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Reinhardt reverses the District Court decision in a decisive win for the parents.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0066cc;\"><a style=\"color: #0066cc;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/law\/caselaw\/2016\/9th.timothyo.paso.robles.fail.eval.pdf\">In his opinion, Judge Reinhardt writes a clear and logical description<\/a><\/span> of the legal requirements for the entire special ed identification, evaluation, and IEP process.<\/p>\n<p>Young Luke is a child with autism. In a meeting, a school person reported that Luke <em>did not have autism<\/em>, but had an \u201cexpressive language delay,\u201d so the school did not complete a comprehensive evaluation as the law requires.\u00a0 This denied Luke a free appropriate public education (FAPE).<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter \" src=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/images\/istock\/gavel.onbinder.800.jpg\" width=\"470\" height=\"365\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Luke\u2019s parents filed for due process alleging that the school district violated the requirements of IDEA and the state regulations (CA) by:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">1. failing to assess Luke in <strong>all<\/strong> areas of suspected disability, specifically autism<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">2. failing to appropriately address his behavioral issues, refusing to speak, tantrums, non-compliance<\/p>\n<p>When Luke\u2019s parents lost at due process and the District Court affirmed the ALJ\u2019s decision, they appealed to the 9th Circuit.<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Failure to Evaluate<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The school was aware of a suspected disability from a number of sources (concerns of parents, informed professionals, Luke\u2019s behavior) and because of this suspicion, was required to evaluate.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt chose, however, not to formally assess him\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The court\u2019s opinion noted that a school staff member\u2019s informal observation of Luke did not constitute <em>a formal assessment required by IDEA<\/em>.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The district&#8217;s failure to assess Luke for all areas of suspected disability deprived his IEP Team of critical evaluative information about his developmental abilities as an autistic child.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>This failure made it impossible for the IEP Team to consider Luke\u2019s unique needs and recommend appropriate services.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Court held that the school violated the procedural requirement of IDEA , was unable to design an IEP to meet Luke\u2019s needs, and therefore denied Luke FAPE.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #000080;\">A Well-Written Decision<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This decision is so well-written on many levels.\u00a0 The decision begins with a good description of autism, including prevalence and primary symptoms, using citations in medical journals.<\/p>\n<p>The decision discusses the need for appropriate early intervention (EI) services. It explains that children who receive proper EI often learn to communicate effectively. Some lose their diagnosis.<\/p>\n<p>Judge Reinhardt describes the IDEA requirements for identification and evaluation in detail. He is clear that by failing (or refusing) to conduct a comprehensive evaluation, the school could not provide Luke with FAPE.<\/p>\n<p>In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/law\/caselaw\/2016\/9th.timothyo.paso.robles.fail.eval.pdf\"><em><span style=\"color: #0066cc;\">Timothy O v. Paso Robles<\/span><\/em><\/a>, read the Judge\u2019s description of the:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>statutory and regulatory background of IDEA<\/li>\n<li>comprehensive requirements for identification and evaluation of children with disabilities<\/li>\n<li>creation of an appropriate IEP<\/li>\n<li>significant, meaningful, and collaborative role of the parents in the process<\/li>\n<li>the requirements for parent notification, parent rights regarding an IEE, and due process rights<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/law\/caselaw\/2016\/9th.timothyo.paso.robles.fail.eval.pdf\"><span style=\"color: #0066cc;\">https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/law\/caselaw\/2016\/9th.timothyo.paso.robles.fail.eval.pdf<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>Stay Current on Case Law!<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>Timothy O v. Paso Robles<\/em> is a <strong>2016 Case of the Year<\/strong>. Court decisions lead to changes in how the law is implemented. It is important to stay current on case law. <strong>Cases of the Year<\/strong> are \u201cmust reads\u201d for special education attorneys,\u00a0advocates,\u00a0and others who are\u00a0interested in special education law.<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/store\/2016law.html\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/bks\/2016law\/cover.blue3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"167\" height=\"212\" \/><\/a><\/span> <span style=\"color: #0066cc;\"><a style=\"color: #0066cc;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/store\/2016law.html\"><em>Wrightslaw: Special Education Legal Developments and Cases 2016<\/em><\/a><em>\u00a0 <\/em><\/span><\/strong><span style=\"color: #333333;\">is o<\/span>ur newest book in the Year in Review series.<\/p>\n<p>Page 79 &#8211; <em>Timothy O. v. Paso Robles<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/store\/2016law.html\"><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>Order your copy today.<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>Legal Developments and Cases 2016 <\/em>includes all decisions in IDEA cases by Courts of Appeals in 2016 including court, legal issues, synopsis of decision, outcome, prevailing party, and link to all decisions. It includes two new special education decision form the U.S. Supreme Court.<\/p>\n<p>Begin your Year in Review collection. Click here for information about the 2015 publication &#8211; <span style=\"color: #000080;\"><a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/bks\/2015law\/index.htm\"><em><span style=\"color: #0066cc;\">Wrightslaw: Special Education Legal Developments and Cases 2015<\/span><\/em><\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>Get the complete <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/bks\/2018law\/index.htm#yir\"><span style=\"color: #0066cc;\">Wrightslaw Year in Review Series<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In TImothy O. v. Paso Robles (May 2016), Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Reinhardt reverses the District Court decision in a decisive win for the parents. In his opinion, <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/parents-win-in-the-ninth-circuit-court-of-appeals-timothy-o-v-paso-robles\/\">Continue Reading \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21697,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45,5],"tags":[687,1440],"class_list":["post-20236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cases","category-idea-2004","tag-caselaw","tag-timothy-o-v-paso-robles"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20236"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20236\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24992,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20236\/revisions\/24992"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}