Expert Fees - Arlington v.

[Guest guest]

Recently, the Supreme Court decided in the case Arlington v. that

reimbursement of attorney fees (when parents win at Due Process) does not extend

to expert witness fees because IDEA did not specifically spell it out.

I am a member of COPAA (Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates). As part

of the group's function, the Council submitted an Amicus Curiae ( " friend of the

court " ) brief to the Supreme Court in this case.

The decision is a true disappointment which the Council hopes to reverse

through legislation. This will take the concerted, collective attention, of as

many people as we can reach. I'm emailing all of you who are members of

in the US to give you a heads up on what will be coming....

As stated by the chair of the Council (Selene Almazan, Esq, who represented

me in Due Process many years ago):

" We believe that Congress meant to include expert fees when they passed

the law in 1986. Since the Court has said Congress did not make this clear we

need COPAA members help in getting a bill through Congress that expressly

states that expert fees may be reimbursed to parents when they win their special

education cases. To begin we will ask you, your friends, and relatives to call

and or write (fax) (not email) your senators and representatives telling them

how the decision will hurt your children and why Congress should amend the law

to clarify its original intent. In the next few days we will provide members

with a sample letter that you can use to fax your senators and

representatives. We will also provide a link to a website that you can use to

find out

their addresses.

We cannot emphasize enough how important this issue is and how important

is your participation in helping to change the law as soon as possible.

- Becky Yoshitani

The Law Office of

Slade Yoshitani, LLC

sville, MD