October 22nd, 2018
McAndrews Law Offices has received another major federal court decision by which a child with disabilities and his family will receive compensatory education services due to the failure of a school system to provide a free appropriate public education (FAPE). On October 9, the United States District Court in Delaware handed down a decision in M.P. v. Campus Community School which found decisively for the child with disabilities and accepted virtually all of the arguments presented to the court by McAndrews Law Offices. In this decision, Judge Gerald McHugh significantly increased the time period of compensatory education which had been awarded by the administrative process, and the child is now entitled to nearly 2 1/2 school years of compensatory education. The court also rejected the administrative panel’s low hourly rate for the compensatory services, and substantially increased the hourly rate for those services from the administrative panel’s figure of $17.50 per hour to a much higher rate of $70 per hour. The court also ordered that the compensatory education monetary fund be placed into a trust for the child, which can enhance the ability to quickly access funds for compensatory education services. Finally, the court increased the time frame in which to use the compensatory education from four years to nearly 8 years. A similar decision was issued about a month ago with regard to this student's sister. Mike Gehring of MLO was the lead attorney on our brief, with substantial consultative and editing help from our team of Mike Connolly , Caitlin McAndrews , and Katie Ryan .
McAndrews Law Offices, P.C. is a nationally recognized firm that provides families of Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, the Metropolitan Washington, D.C. Area, and New Jersey with exceptional legal representation in Special Education, Estate Planning, and the representation of individuals involved in higher education allegations of misconduct.
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