Justia U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals Opinion Summaries

The ACLU sued public charter school Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy (TIZA) and other defendants for violations of the Establishment Clause. At issue was whether the parents of students who attended TIZA had standing to intervene on behalf of the children and, in the alternative, whether the motion to intervene was timely. The court held that the parents had Article III standing where the parents have alleged an injury in fact, facts showing that the injury was imminent, the injury was fairly traceable to defendant's conduct, and redressability. The court held, however, that the district court did not make a clear error in finding the motion untimely where it was evident that for fourteen months, the parents were content to remain aloof from the litigation and dependent on TIZA to adequately represent their interests despite their knowledge of the case and its progress. The court further denied the ACLU's motion to supplement the record on appeal because the material proffered would not affect the outcome of the trial and denied the ACLU's motion to seal because it was moot. Accordingly, the court affirmed the district court's denial of the parents' motion to intervene.

Appellants, on behalf of their disabled daughter, appealed the district court's finding that the Fort Osage R-1 School District ("school district") offered the daughter a free appropriate public education ("FAPE") within the meaning of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act ("IDEA"), 20 U.S.C. 1400, et seq., for the 2006-2007 school year. Appellants sought reimbursement for their costs of placing their daughter at a private facility during the school year. The court held that the district court did not err in concluding that the school district offered the daughter a FAPE and that the Individualized Education Plan put forward by the school district did not suffer from any procedural error. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment of the district court.

Plaintiffs sued defendant in state court alleging that defendant violated a number of its statutory and common-law duties while managing plaintiffs' assets. Defendant filed a notice of removal with the district court, arguing that the diversity-of-citizenship jurisdiction statute, 28 U.S.C. 1332(a)(1), gave the district court original jurisdiction over the action. At issue was whether the district court erroneously granted plaintiffs' motions to remand to state court. The court held that, after considering plaintiffs' relative lack of Independence from the State of Missouri as well as the potential impact that a money judgment in plaintiffs' favor could have on the state's treasury, the court found that plaintiffs were merely an arm of the state and not "citizens" for purposes of section 1332(a)(1). Therefore, defendant failed to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the district court had original jurisdiction over the case and the district court's orders to remand the case to state court were affirmed.

Plaintiff filed a 42 U.S.C. 1983 action against defendants alleging that defendants violated plaintiff's rights under the First Amendment and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment by refusing plaintiff equal access to defendant's "Backpack Flyers for Students" program. At issue was whether the district court erred in denying plaintiff's claims for injunctive relief and damages on the merits. The court held that the district court did not err in finding that plaintiff's First Amendment rights were not violated; that a limited public forum could be limited to use by certain groups or dedicated solely to the discussion of certain subjects and a public entity could impose reasonable and viewpoint neutral restrictions on speech in the forum; that restrictions on plaintiff's access to the program was viewpoint neutral and did not impose a substantial restriction on plaintiff's access to the forum; and that the school official did not exercise unbridled discretion in managing the program.

Plaintiff, a former Nelnet, Inc. ("Nelnet") loan advisor, alleged that certain Nelnet marketing practices were continuing violations of the Federal Family Education Loan Program ("FFELP") established under Part B of the Higher Education Act of 1965, 20 U.S.C. 1071, that rendered Nelnet liable under the False Claims Act ("FCA"), 31 U.S.C. 3729(a). Plaintiff joined JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup, Inc. as defendants alleging they were knowing participants in a conspiracy to submit false claims. At issue was whether the district court properly dismissed plaintiff's third amended complaint. The court affirmed the dismissal and held that there was no abuse of discretion in dismissing plaintiff's claims where plaintiff failed to plead fraud with sufficient particularity and for failure to state a claim under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 9(b).

Appellants, a child with a learning disability and his parents, sued the Special School District No. 1 ("School District") in Minneapolis, Minnesota alleging that the School District violated his rights under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act ("IDEA"), 20 U.S.C. 1400, by denying him a free appropriate public education. At issue was whether the district court properly granted summary judgment in favor of the School District when it determined that the parents were not entitled to reimbursement from the School District for one year of private tuition when they transferred the child to a private education institution ("institution"). The court reversed the district court's decision and held that appellants were not precluded from reimbursement for tuition for the 2008-2009 academic year where the institution was a proper placement for the child and where the institution did not need to satisfy the least-restrictive environment requirement to be "proper" under the IDEA.