T.G. Ex Rel. Gutierrez v. Baldwin Park Unified School District

MEMORANDUM

Appellant T.G. appeals the district court’s decision dismissing his Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) claims on grounds of res judicata, collateral estoppel, and failure to exhaust administrative remedies. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we reverse and remand with instructions.

T.G. is an autistic eighteen-year-old male who receives special education services from the Baldwin Park Unified School District. He weighs 250 pounds, is unpredictably violent, and was diagnosed in 2009 as emotionally disturbed.

During the 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 school years, T.G. was educated at home due to his disabilities. On July 21, 2008, the School District offered T.G. an immediate placement for the 2008-2009 school year at Canyon View, a special-education school for autistic and emotionally dis turbed children. When T.G.’s mother refused the placement, the School District filed an administrative complaint requesting a declaration that its proposal constituted a Free Appropriate Public Education (“FAPE”).

In January 2009 an Administrative Law Judge (“ALJ”) ruled that Canyon View was a FAPE. But the ALJ refrained from declaring that immediate placement was…