Cave v. East Meado Union Free School Dist.

514 F.3d 240

John CAVE and Nancy Cave as individuals, parents, legal guardians and guardians ad litem of John Cave Jr. and John Cave Jr., Plaintiffs-appellants, v. EAST MEADOW UNION FREE SCHOOL DISTRICT, W. Tresper Clarke High School, Robert R. Dillion as administration of The East Meadow Union Free School District and W. Tresper Clarke High School and Robert R. Dillon individually and personally, Joseph Barbera as administration of The East Meadow Union Free School District and W. Tresper Clarke High School and Joseph Barbera individually and personally, Leon J. Campo as administration of The East Meadow Union Free School District and W. Tresper Clarke High School and Leon J. Campo individually and personally, Timothy Voels as administration of The East Meadow Union Free School District and W. Tresper Clarke High School and Timothy Voels individually and personally, Deborah Coates as President of the Board of Education of East Meadow School District and W. Tresper Clarke High School and Deborah Coates individually and personally, Brian O'Flaherty as Vice President of the Board of Education of East Meadow School District and W. Tresper Clarke High School and Brian O'Flaherty individually and personally, Debra Kirsh as Trustee of the Board of Education of East Meadow Union Free School District and W. Tresper Clarke High School and Debra Kirsh individually and personally, Judy Schiechel as Trustee of the Board of Education of East Meadow Union Free School District and W. Tresper Clarke High School and Judy Schiechel individually and personally, Walter Skinner as Trustee of the Board of Education of East Meadow Union Free School District and W. Tresper Clarke High School and Walter Skinner individually and personally, Barry Rubinstein as Trustee of the Board of Education of East Meadow Union Free School District and W. Tresper. Clarke High School and Barry Rubinstein individually and personally, Joseph Parisi as, Trustee of the Board of Education of East Meadow Union Free School District and W. Tresper Clarke High School and Joseph Parisi individually and personally, Geraldine Doddato as Assistant Principal and administration of The East Meadow Union Free School District and W. Tresper Clarke High School and Geraldine Doddato individually and personally, Darryl Strabuk as Assistant Principal and administration of The East Meadow School District and W. Tresper Clarke High School and Darryl Strabuk individually and personally, Patrice Dobies as an employee, agent and servant of East Meadow Union Free School District and W. Tresper Clarke High School and Patrice Dobies individually and personally and John Campo as an employee, agent and servant of East Meadow School District and W. Tresper Clarke High School and John Campo individually and personally, Defendants-appellees.

Docket No. 07-1120-cv.

United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.

Argued: October 5, 2007.

Decided: January 23, 2008.

Paul J. Margiotta, Esq., Lindenhurst, NY, for plaintiffs-appellants.

Stanley A. Camhi, Esq., Jaspan, Schlesinger & Hofman, LLP, Garden City, NY, for defendants-appellees.

Before: FEINBERG, CALABRESI, and WESLEY, Circuit Judges.

FEINBERG, Circuit Judge:

Plaintiffs-appellants, disabled high school student John Cave Jr. ("John, Jr.") and his parents, appeal from a decision of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (Spatt, J.) denying their motion for a preliminary injunction under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 ("ADA"), 42 U.S.C. § 12101 et seq., Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 ("Section 504"), 29 U.S.C. § 794, and 42 U.S.C. § 1983 ("§ 1983"). The injunction sought would have restrained defendants-appellees from denying John, Jr. entry to his high school and all school facilities while accompanied by his service dog, Simba. The judge, in a thorough opinion, denied appellants' motion because they had failed to establish a reasonable likelihood of success on the merits of their federal and state law claims. See Cave v. E. Meadow Union Free Sch. Dist., 480 F.Supp.2d 610 (E.D.N.Y.2007). We hold that the district court lacked subject matter jurisdiction over appellants' federal claims because, before filing their suit, appellants failed to exhaust the administrative remedies provided by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act ("IDEA"), 20 U.S.C. § 1400 et seq., and its implementing state legislation. We also hold that in the absence of jurisdiction over the federal claims, the exercise of supplemental jurisdiction over appellants' state law causes of action was improper. We therefore direct the district court to dismiss without prejudice appellants' complaint in its entirety for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.

I. BACKGROUND

John, Jr. is a hearing-impaired student enrolled in the W. Tresper Clarke High School in the East Meadow Union Free School District. To minimize the impact of John, Jr.'s disability in the educational setting, the school authorities, in collaboration with his mother, developed an individual education program ("IEP") designed to meet his specific needs and enable him to be a fully mainstreamed student. John, Jr. has had an IEP designed for him since the age of three. Cave, 480 F.Supp.2d at 630. Under his current IEP, John, Jr. is provided with a wide range of special education and support services, including a sign language interpreter for all academic subjects, individual sessions with a teacher of the hearing-impaired, a classroom note taker, a microphone system that allows him to hear sounds more clearly, a closed-caption device when videos are shown in class and preferential classroom seating. Id. at 616-21.

In December 2006, John, Jr.'s parents asked the high school authorities to allow him to bring his newly acquired service dog, Simba, to school with him every day. Despite the variety of accommodations supplied by the school for John, Jr.'s disability, his parents urged that Simba's presence was necessary, as Simba would alert John, Jr. to emergency bells, to people calling his name, or to sounds of car engines in the street, and would generally enhance his socialization skills. Id. at 619, 621. More important, his parents claim that Simba is for John, Jr. an "independent life tool," which, like his cochlear implants, is supposed to increase his independence and limit the effects of the hearing impairment. Id. at 617, 619.

The school officials denied the Caves' request on the ground that the presence of the dog would prove disruptive to John, Jr.'s education, since his class schedule and his overall education program would have to be modified to avoid the exposure of allergic students and teachers to the dog. The school district's Section 504 team¹ met in December 2006 to consider the problem. Appellants did not attend that meeting, at which the Section 504 team determined that John, Jr. enjoyed full access to the district's special education programs and facilities and that he currently did not need a service dog at school, because he was functioning satisfactorily under the approved IEP. Thereafter, the Section 504 team convened a meeting of the school district's Committee on Special Education ("CSE"). Appellants did attend that meeting. However, the CSE affirmed the findings of the Section 504 team. Although appellants were informed about the availability of administrative review of the school district's decisions, they did not use this process. Id. at 626-27, 630-31.

Instead, after a series of confrontations with school officials, appellants filed this lawsuit in February 2007 against the high school and the school district, in addition to 15 district officials and high school employees in their official and individual capacities, alleging violations of the ADA, Section 504 and § 1983, as well as several New York statutes (the New York State Human Rights Law, the New York Civil Rights Law and the New York Education Law). In their complaint, appellants not only asked for preliminary and permanent injunctions enjoining the school officials from barring John, Jr. access to the school and its facilities when accompanied by Simba, but also sought $150,000,000 in compensatory and punitive damages, along with court expenses and attorneys' fees.

Thereafter, the district court conducted a four-and-one-half-day hearing on plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction. The judge denied the motion because the Caves had not established a reasonable likelihood of success on the merits of the underlying action due to their failure to exhaust the administrative remedies available under the IDEA, a failure fatal to their federal causes of action. Id at 635-39.

After the district court denied the motion for a preliminary injunction, defendants moved, on March 20, 2007, to dismiss the complaint in its entirety for lack of subject matter jurisdiction or, in the alternative, for summary judgment. Also on March 20, the Caves appealed from denial of the preliminary injunction and thereafter moved in this court to certify all questions of state law to the New York Court of Appeals. That motion has been referred to this panel for a decision simultaneous with our disposition of the appeal.

II. ANALYSIS

A. FEDERAL CLAIMS

1. The IDEA's Exhaustion Requirement

In this court, appellants assert various infringements by appellees of John, Jr.'s rights under the ADA, Section 504 and § 1983. They essentially allege federal question jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1331, which provides that district courts have original jurisdiction over claims that arise under the Constitution or the laws of the United States. Appellants' right to judicial relief does depend ultimately on the construction of these federal statutes, but appellees' first argument requires us to consider whether we are barred from considering them at all at this time if the IDEA applies.² See Br. of Appellees at 26. The district court carefully summarized the statutory framework and,...