The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (“IDEA”) authorizes courts, at their discretion, to “award reasonable attorneys’ fees… to a prevailing party who is the parent of a child with a disability” in legal actions brought pursuant to the Act. 20 U.S.C. § 1415(i)(3)(B)(i)(I). If a parent prevails on an IDEA claim at the due process administrative hearing level or in court, they can be reimbursed for their attorney’s fees. 

The IDEA also includes provisions that allow defendant school districts to be reimbursed for their attorneys’ fees—but only in limited cases. A court can award attorneys’ fees “. . . against the attorney of a parent who files a complaint or subsequent cause of action that is frivolous, unreasonable, or without foundation, or . . . who continued to litigate after the litigation clearly became frivolous, unreasonable, or without foundation; or . . . against the attorney of a parent, or against the parent, if the parent’s complaint or subsequent cause of action was presented for any improper purpose, such as to harass, to cause unnecessary delay, or to needlessly increase the cost of litigation.” 20 U.S.C. § 1415(i)(3)(B)(i)(II)–(III).

Professor Perry Zirkel, University Professor Emeritus of Education and Law at Lehigh University, has authored a new article, “Attorneys’ Fees Claims Against Plaintiff Parents and Their Attorneys under the IDEA: The Most Recent Court Rulings,” in which he shares his findings that “the frequency of defendant-district filings for attorney’s fees has dropped significantly in the most recent decade” and that “the odds in favor of districts obtaining at least partial attorneys’ fees awards are  consistently low.” Specifically, school districts received “at least a partial attorneys’ fees award in less than 15% of their claims.”