Cedar Law Wins Impactful Ninth Circuit Decision on IDEA to 22

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Today we received a unanimous, published Ninth Circuit decision that exiting disabled Washington students from IEPs prior to their 22nd birthdays likely violates federal law and causes “irreparable harm” to those students.

As a result of this ruling, we expect that OSPI and therefore all Washington school districts will be enjoined from aging out 21-year-old students from special education at the end of this 2023-2024 school year.

Alex Hagel of Cedar Law and Ian Crosby of Susman Godfrey presented oral argument onMarch 25, 2024 to appeal the trial court’s denial of a preliminary injunction to prevent the exit of hundreds of Washington’s most vulnerable and disabled students from special education.

In reversing the trial court, the Ninth Circuit held in relevant part:

The record here shows that Washington does not shut the door to free public education to all 21-year-olds—only disabled ones. The IDEA does not permit it to do so […]

[I]t is almost beyond dispute that wrongful discontinuation of a special education program to which a student is entitled subjects that student to actual irreparable harm […]

But the promise of compensatory education is no answer to the claim of irreparable harm arising from the denial of special education […]

We conclude that the students meet all four of the Winter requirements, so we vacate the district court’s order and remand for further proceedings including the entry of a preliminary injunction. We do not consider whether the proposed class warrants certification under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23. Because the district court has not previously addressed that issue, we leave it to be resolved on remand. VACATED and REMANDED. 

This decision will have profound implications for families of students on the brink of “aging out” of special education and provide up to an additional year for students to access their free appropriate public education including critical academic, speech/language, adaptive, physical, occupational, behavioral and social-emotional therapeutic services.

Our expectation is that the class will be certified and the preliminary injunction will go into effect before the last day of this 2023-2024 school year so that Washington students can reap the immediate benefit of this historic and impactful decision.

Read the published opinion | Watch the oral argument