USCA1 Opinion

United States Court of Appeals

For the First Circuit
____________________

No. 96-2006
PROVIDENCE SCHOOL DEPARTMENT,
Plaintiff-Appellant,

v.

ANA C., a minor,

Defendant-Appellee.

____________________

ERRATA SHEET
ERRATA SHEET

The

opinion

of

this Court

issued

on

March

3, 1997

is

corrected as follows:

On

the

cover

sheet,

line 16:

substitute

"Pollack" and substitute "Incorporated" for "Inc."

"Pollock"

for

United States Court of Appeals

For the First Circuit

____________________

No. 96-2006

PROVIDENCE SCHOOL DEPARTMENT,

Plaintiff-Appellant,

v.

ANA C., a minor,

Defendant-Appellee.

____________________

APPEAL FROM THE UNTIED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE DISTRICT COURT OF RHODE ISLAND

[Hon. Raymond J. Pettine, U.S. District Judge]

___________________

____________________

Before

Boudin, Cyr, and Lynch, Circuit Judges.

______________

____________________

David A. Wollin, with whom Patricia K. Rocha, R. Bart Totten

________________
__________________ ______________
Adler Pollock & Sheehan Incorporated were on brief for appellant.
____________________________________
Martha McVicker,
________________

with

whom

the

Rhode Island Protection

___________________________

Advocacy System was on brief for appellee.

_______________
____________________

March 3, 1997

__________________

officer,

LYNCH,
LYNCH,

Circuit Judge.
Circuit Judge.
______________

acting

under

Education

1992.

School

States District

impartial

with

1400 et seq., found that

__ ____

parts of the

Department sought

Court within

review

Disabilities

School Department owed benefits

student, Ana C., for

The

Individuals

Act ("IDEA"), 20 U.S.C.

the Providence

needs

the

An

to a special

years 1990 through

review in

thirty days of

the United

receiving that

decision, consistent

state

with the time periods

Administrative Procedures Act

court dismissed

uses

("APA").

the claim as untimely,

law borrowed a different

contained in the

The district

finding that federal

state limitations period, one which

issuance of a decision,

not receipt of

trigger the thirty day period.1

a decision, to

We reverse the dismissal.

I.

The

mentally

essential facts are not in dispute.

retarded

educational

services

Providence, Rhode

and

she

services

was

minor,

is

under

entitled

the

IDEA.

Island from August 1989

entitled

per year under

to

230 days

of

the Rhode Island

Regulations Governing the Special

to receive

Ana

Ana C., a

special

lived

in

to November 1992,

special

education

Board of Regents'

Education of Children with

Disabilities (the "Regulations").

____________________

1.

Because the enactment of the IDEA preceded the enactment

of 28 U.S.C.

1658, the IDEA is unaffected by that

establishment of a four year statute of limitations for all

federal causes of action lacking a specific limitations
period.

Id.
___

-22

The

summer

School

educational services

1990, 1991, and

conceded

Department

a portion

did

not provide

she sought

of 1992.

Ana

the

for the

summers of

The School

Department

in October of 1992 that Ana was entitled to receive

total of 150 days of special education that the Department

had previously

Department

Chester,

failed

to

provide.

But

when

the

School

learned that Ana and her father had moved to West

Pennsylvania

in

position, saying that Ana

November

1992, it

reversed

could not receive the 150

its

days as

long as she resided outside of Rhode Island.

Ana sought

hearing.

impartial hearing officer for

Education

("RIDE") decided

state, she could

On

August 30,

1995,

an

the Rhode Island Department of

that, because

not receive the 150 days.

Ana lived

out of

The officer was

not an employee

of the school

school committee,

district or a

in accordance with 20

member of

U.S.C.

the

1415(b)(2)

and section 7 of the Regulations.

Ana,

officer's

section

reversed.

then

decision

9 of the

age

fourteen,

pursuant

to

Regulations.

appealed

20 U.S.C.

An

the

hearing

1415(c)

and

impartial review officer

As required by section 10 of the Regulations, that

officer was not an employee of the Rhode Island Department of

Education or a member

His

decision,

dated

of the Rhode Island Board

January

-33

23,

1996,

of Regents.

awarded

Ana

compensation

for

150 days

of

special

education from

the

Department, despite her Pennsylvania residency.

The review officer's decision was forwarded to

Office

January

of

Special Needs

26, 1996.

counsel for Ana

precise

date

The

and to

of

the

of the

RIDE

and was

RIDE then forwarded

is

received on

the decision to

the School Department.

forwarding

the

unclear,

Though

the

the

School

Department

did not

receive the

decision until

February 7,

1996.

The

U.S.C.

Providence School

1415(e)(2), filed

Department, pursuant

its

to 20

complaint challenging

the

final agency decision in the United States District Court for

the District

moved

of Rhode

to dismiss

filed forty-one

his decision.

Island on

the complaint

days after

This,

March 4, 1996.

on the

ground that

the state review

Ana argued,

Ana

then

it was

officer issued

exceeded the thirty

days

from issuance allowed by law and was thus untimely.

Accepting the report and recommendation of a United

States

Magistrate Judge,

motion

and

dismissed

the

the district

School

court

granted Ana's

Department's

complaint.

Although section

period,

the Supreme

"apply the

under

1415(e)(2) does

most

state

Teamsters, 462
_________

Court

not specify

has directed

closely analogous

law,"

DelCostello
___________

U.S. 151, 158 (1983),

-44

federal courts

statute

v.

a limitations

of

to

limitations

International Bhd. of
______________________

so long as "it

is not

inconsistent

Garcia,
______

471 U.S. 261,

had found

Gen.

with federal law or policy to do so." Wilson v.

______

266-67 (1985).

that the most

Laws

closely analogous statute

16-39-3.1

limitations period

The magistrate judge

and

had begun

therefore that

to run

the

when the

was R.I.

thirty day

decision was

issued on January 23, 1996.2

The

School

Department appeals,

most analogous state limitations

APA,

R.I. Gen. Laws

v.

Stevenson, 676
_________

to run

of issuance.

A.2d

325, 328

that the

statute is the Rhode Island

42-35-15, under which

limitations period begins

rather than the date

arguing

from the

the thirty day

date of

receipt

See Bayview Towing, Inc.

___ _____________________

(R.I.

1996) (thirty

day

limitations

period

under

section

receipt of the final agency

the

Department

argues,

42-35-15

decision).

its

triggered

by

Under that standard,

appeal was

timely

filed

and

improperly dismissed.

II.

This case presents a pure issue of law.

of a grant of

a motion to dismiss

is de novo.
__ ____

Our review

Glassman v.
________

Computervision Corp., 90 F.3d 617, 623 (1st Cir. 1996).

____________________

In

enacting the

IDEA, Congress

contemplated that

there would be judicial review of the decisions of the review

____________________

The Department did not argue that the "issuance" of the

decision was the date it was sent to the parties, rather than
the date the review officer submitted it to the state agency

to send to the parties.

Accordingly, we do not consider that

point.

-55

officer,

but did not set a statutory time limit during which

the petition

for judicial

have

looked to

from

the laws

laws do

the most

review must be

analogous statutes

of the pertinent

not conflict with

brought.

Courts

of limitations

state, provided

the federal policies

that those

inherent in

the statute.

See Wilson, 471

___ ______

U.S. at 266-67.

In Amann v.
_____

Town of Stow, 991 F.2d 929, 931 (1st Cir. 1993)(per curiam),
_____________

this

court, in a case

Massachusetts,

"most

involving a special

held that the

analogous"

state law

action authorized by

needs child from

Massachusetts APA contains the

cause

of action

section 1415(e)(2).

to

In so

the civil

doing, this

court found that "courts reviewing agency decisions under the

IDEA will

rely primarily

will scrutinize

substantive

on the administrative

agency action for procedural

validity, but

will not

the

state agency.

character

. .

statute

the

hearing

regularity and

impos[e] their

preferable . . . methods on

of

record, and

under

is essentially one of review."

view of

Thus,

the

the Massachusetts

Id. at 932 (internal

___

quotation marks and citations omitted).

considered whether the short

from receipt)

limitations period (thirty days

was inconsistent with

and concluded that it was not.

For

The Amann court also

_____

the goals of

the IDEA,

Id.
___

similar reasons, the

Rhode Island APA governs

the limitations period for judicial review in this case.

The

Rhode Island APA, like the Massachusetts APA, confines review

-66

to

the

record

irregularity, to

R.I. Gen. Laws

or,

in

proof

cases

in court

42-35-15(f).

substitute its judgment for

of

"may reverse or

of

alleged

those

procedural

irregularities.

The reviewing court "shall not

that of the agency as

the evidence on questions

The court

of

of fact."

modify the

Id.
___

to weight

42-35-15(g).

[agency] decision

if

substantial rights of the

appellant have been prejudiced" in

the usual grounds

manner consistent with

judicial

review

of

an administrative

for reversal on

agency.

Id.
___

The

character of the hearings under both the Rhode Island APA and

the IDEA is essentially one of review.

Cf. Board of Educ. v.

___ ______________

Rowley, 458 U.S. 176, 207-09 (1982); Burlington v. Department

______
__________
__________

of Educ., 736 F.2d 773, 791 (1st Cir. 1984).

________

The

R.I.

Gen. Laws

section

party

district court

16-39-3.1.

is not a judicial

but

finality

focused on

By

its

the provisions

literal terms,

of

that

review provision for an aggrieved

and enforcement

provision

for

the

prevailing party where no review was available or was sought:

Enforcement of final decisions -All final decisions

by

the

commissioner

secondary
regents

education
for

education,
further

made after a hearing

of elementary
or

elementary
and which are

judicial

or

the
and

board

and
of

secondary

not subject to
administrative

review, shall be enforceable

by mandamus

or any other suitable civil action in the

superior court for

Providence County

the request of any interested party.

such

decisions

of the

board shall become

further

All

commissioner and

final if judicial

administrative

at

review

is

or
not

-77

properly sought within

of their issuance.

Id.

16-39-3.1.

thirty (30)

days

___

Even assuming that section

16-39-3.1 is a judicial

review provision, this section of Rhode Island law is not the

most

analogous to the federal scheme.

was made

by an impartial

officials listed).

officer may not

Rhode

Island

review officer (not by

See
___

be the

Regulations

also 20
____

of

agency).

The

employee of

and

1415(b)(2)

the

Secondary

(impartial due

not be an employee of

decision was

one of the

(impartial review

Elementary

U.S.C.

process hearing officer may

educational

10

Commissioner or an

Department

Education); see
___

The decision at issue

also

the state

subject

to

further judicial or administrative review.

As

matter of

federal

law, the

administrative

decision

here is more

similar to those

16-39-4, which expressly states

that any aggrieved party may

obtain judicial review

"as provided in

42."

title 42

Chapter

Chapter

35

39 itself

of

is concerned

governed by section

is

chapter 35 of

the Rhode

Island

with "[p]arties

title

APA.

having any

matter of dispute between them arising under any law relating

to schools or

education."

federal district court for

previously

noted

that

R.I. Gen. Laws

16-39-1.

the district of Rhode Island

section

16-39-4

applies

to

The

had

cases

involving benefits for handicapped children under chapter 39.

-88

Laura V. v. Providence Sch. Bd., 680 F. Supp.

________
___________________

66, 70 (D.R.I.

1988).

In

opinion

holding

defines

APA

does

not apply,

the

in the trial courts relied on a different chapter of

the education laws,

Board of

that the

chapter 60.

Chapter

Regents for Elementary and

its

duties.

exempting itself

from

Chapter

60

the provisions

60 establishes the

Secondary Education and

contains

of

the APA.

provision

Rhode

Island

General

provisions of

Laws

section 16-60-10

states

the Administrative Procedures

that

"the

Act, chapter 35

of title 42, shall not apply to this chapter."

Federal

closely

law

requires that

analogous statute

procedures

which have

analogous to

the

of

look

limitations,

been applied

review

we

to the

and the

to chapter

provisions

of the

most

review

60 are

IDEA.

not

Under

section 16-60-10, review of decisions of the Board of Regents

is by writ of

certiorari.

Pawtucket Sch. Comm. v.

____________________

Board of
________

Regents for Elementary and Secondary Educ., 513 A.2d 13,

___________________________________________

(R.I.

1986);

Bristol Sch. Dep't

___________________

Educ., 396 A.2d 936 (R.I. 1979).

_____

15

v. Board of Regents for

______________________

Review under the IDEA

is a

matter

of

right

provisions

of

committees

and

rather

the

IDEA,

parents

than

discretionary.

all

aggrieved

alike,

are

Under

parties,

entitled

to

review:

Any party aggrieved

_________
decision

made

by the findings

under

-99

subsection (b)

and
of

the

school

judicial

this section [providing

of

administrative

have

the

right

subsection
review

for first

review] who
to

an

(c) [providing
of

the

level

does not

appeal

under

for impartial

hearing

officer's

decision], and any party aggrieved by the

findings
(c),

and

decision under

subsection

shall have the right to bring a

___________________________________

civil
action
______________
complaint

with

presented

respect

to

the

pursuant

to

this

section . . . .

20

U.S.C.

Anrig, 561
_____

town's

then

Act).

1415(e)(2) (emphasis

F.

Supp. 121,

124

(D. Mass.

appeal from administrative

known as

the

Education for

Indeed, entitlement
___________

salient feature of review

added); see
___

also
____

1983)

Doe v.
___

(reviewing

decision under

the IDEA,

All Handicapped

Children

to review is

under the IDEA.

arguably the

Review

most

under the

Rhode Island

Laws

matter of right.

16-35-15 (providing that

available

review

APA is also a

anyone who has exhausted all

administrative remedies

under the

APA).

By

certiorari to the state's

is used for significant

federal

law requires

statute

of

is

entitled to
________

contrast,

review by

judicial

writ

of

highest court is discretionary and

issues of public interest.

borrowing the

limitations, we

provision providing for

See R.I. Gen.

___

look

most

to

Because

closely analogous

section 16-39-4,

APA review, rather than

the

to case law

providing for review by writ of certiorari.

The adoption of the district court's position would

pose another

problem under

federal law, which

we describe,

but which we need not resolve in light of our holding.

Under

-1010

that position,

from

to

parents or

school systems seeking

decisions by impartial

the IDEA

within

finality

review officers acting pursuant

would effectively

which to seek judicial

provision

of

to appeal

have less

review.

than thirty

That

section 16-39-3.1

days

is because the

starts

the clock

running from the date a decision is issued.

did

not

receive

the

approximately fifteen

review

even

officer's

decision

days after the date

and thirteen days after it

about

Here the parties

until

of that decision,

was received by the RIDE.

Thus,

half of the thirty days had elapsed before the parties

knew of the decision.

hearing

officer

forwarded

The delay

the

occurred because the

decision

to

the

state

Department of

Special Education, which then

forwarded it to

the parties.

Bureaucracies being what they

are, some delay

is

inevitable.

would

be

involvement

Whether less than thirty days to seek review

inconsistent

is a

with

the IDEA's

serious issue.3

1415(b)(1)(D) (requiring

See,
___

goal

of

e.g., 20
____

school authorities to

parental

U.S.C.

give parents

notice of pertinent procedures); see also

___ ____

Amann, 991 F.2d at

_____

932.

Finally, even

statute of

if we were to

limitations based

choose the applicable

solely on the

requirements of

____________________

The parties advise us that the hearing officers are now

told to mail their decisions directly to the parties.

Even

so, the mail takes time, which again cuts into the thirty day
limitations period.

-1111

state law, it is far from clear that chapter 60 is applicable

here.

By its terms, this exclusion from the APA applies only

to chapter

60, and not

to the

provisions of chapter

which the Providence Department relies.

the

literal terms

of

there is little reason

the chapter

the

dispute here.

provisions

agencies,

Gen. Laws

The

governing

such as

If one probes behind

60 exclusion

provision,

to think this exclusion was

apply to disputes between

a child and a school

Rhode Island

the

internal

the procedures

39 on

APA has

operations

for adopting

42-35-3, and restrictions on

meant to

system, like

number of

of

state

rules, R.I.

ex parte contacts,

id.
___

42-35-13.

intended to

That the Rhode Island

exempt the

under certain

Board

legislature may have

of Regents

circumstances does

from these

not necessarily

rules

mean that

the legislature intended to exempt from judicial review under

the

APA matters within the

purview of chapter 39 concerning

benefits owed to children under education laws.

School Committee
________________

In Pawtucket
_________

v. Pawtucket Teachers Alliance, 610

_____________________________

A.2d

1104, 1106 (R.I. 1992), for example, the Rhode Island Supreme

Court found

appeal

that because section 16-39-2,

of school

Education, was

APA

pursuant

provisions of

committee actions

to the

not expressly exempted from

to

R.I.

Gen.

the APA applied

Laws

which governs the

Commissioner of

the Rhode Island

42-15-18(b),

to hearings conducted

certain

by the

Commissioner.

Similarly,

while

listing

numerous

other

-1212

provisions to which

the APA does

not apply, section

42-15-

18(b) contains no express exemption for section 16-39-3.1.

It may

be true that,

under certain circumstances,

as a matter of Rhode Island law, review of decisions pursuant

to chapter 39 is not governed by the APA.

There

is case law

suggesting

Board

of

that

judicial

review

of

Regents

decision is only available through a writ of certiorari.

See
___

D'Ambra v. North Providence Sch. Comm., 601 A.2d 1370,

_______
____________________________

1372

(R.I.

for

1992).

We

need not resolve this

issue of state law,

this case is more analogous, as a matter of federal law,

to the type of cases reviewed under the APA.

For these

APA, R.I.

Gen. Laws

reasons, we

42-35-15, including

limitations and triggering

closely

analogous

applies

to IDEA

hold that the

statute

Rhode Island

the statute

event it sets forth,

under

appeals from

state law

Rhode Island.4

and

of

is the most

therefore

Because the

School Department's

Island APA

court

notice of

appeal fell within

limitations period, the decision

dismissing

the

case is

reversed,

the Rhode

of the district

and

the case

is

____________________

In light of this ruling, the Rhode Island Department of

Elementary and Secondary Education may wish to reconsider the

language it uses on its notice of decision: "The Rhode Island
Department of Education does not set a time frame to bring
civil action, and defers that issue to the court in which
appellant seeks jurisdiction."

Cf. Speigler v. District of

___ ________
___________

Columbia, 866 F.2d 461, 469 (D.C. Cir. 1989) (rejecting

________
application of statute of limitations to bar parents' actions
where parents had not been notified of the limitations
period).

-1313

remanded for prompt

disposition.

"The legislative

statutory

terms, and

regulatory framework

emphasize

promptness

as

statutory scheme."

have

to 1990.

indispensable

Amann, 991 F.2d at 932.

_____

acted expeditiously

complaint

an

(eleven

months

through this appeal), the events

of the

element

history,

IDEA all

of the

While the courts

from

filing

the

at issue go back

Justice would be best served by a prompt resolution

of the longstanding dispute.

No costs are awarded.

-1414