Be Nice!
The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals has sent a strong message to parties and their lawyers: be nice! Work cooperatively and don’t bother us unless you have to!
That’s a loose translation of the Court’s holding in el Paso ISD v. R.R., reported in the February issue of TSALD. The district c court had ordered the EPISD to pay the parent’s attorney $45,000 as the “prevailing party” in a special ed case. The district argued that the parents were not really the “prevailing party” because the distict had offered them everything they wanted before the case ever went to court. The 5th Circuit dodged the issue of whether or not the parent was the “prevailing party.” Instead, the court concluded that it did not matter: even if the parent had prevailed, theyand their attorney had “unreasonably protracted the final resolution of the dispute for over three years.”
The lesson is clear: come to resolution sessions prepared to work in good faith toward a resolution. Don’t turn down a resolution unless you have a good reason to do so.
