Legal Victories
- Freeman Law Offices, LLC recovered the costs of private education for a special needs family when the school district failed to meet their daughter’s needs. A U.S. District Judge found that the school district violated IDEA laws, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and other important standards. Our clients are to be reimbursed $456,990.60 for private school tuition, summer school tuition, counseling services, tutoring, and more. By failing to provide Orton-Gillingham methodology or another research-based, systemic, cumulative, and rigorously implemented program, the Clark County School district failed this young girl with hydrocephalus and dyslexia. We are honored to have helped this family achieve justice.
- The firm represented the parents in a ground breaking case against Moorestown School District on behalf of a child with autism, captioned Moorestown School District v. S.D. and C.D. on behalf of M.D., 811 F. Supp. 2d 1057 (D.N.J. Sept. 2011). In that case, the Court ruled the Moorestown School District had wrongly denied a child with autism an Individualized Education Plan ("IEP") and ordered the school district to pay for the child's placement at a private school for children with disabilities. In addition, the parents' substantial victory enabled parents to petition the federal court for an award of the counsel fees that they had incurred to protect their child's rights.
- Freeman Law Offices, LLC is proud to announce a particularly exciting win for the family of a 20-year-old student with Autism, who'd suffered behavioral difficulties and was in need of residential placement. With the student's growing aggressive nature, he was hospitalized for behavioral control. Attorneys for the firm appealed to the State of New Jersey seeking emergency placement and after much deliberation, the state offered emergency placement in a home that would not provide for his personal safety. Undeterred, attorney Freeman appealed the State's offer and was successful in securing placement at Bancroft Neurohealth, where the student would receive better treatment and the assistance he deserved.
- The firm successfully resolved a case involving a 17-year-old student suffering from severe depression that interfered with her educational progress. The 2 districts involved in her case both overlooked her unique deficits resulting in significant deterioration in educational and emotional performance. She and her family needed assistance to see this situation properly addressed and given the care to look into all of the factors in play. Considering the situation confronting the student and the lack of effective resolution on the part of these districts, the family acted to unilaterally place her into the Second Nature Wilderness Program followed by placement in a private therapeutic setting. We were successful in securing reimbursement from the school district for the private placement so that she may progress in an appropriate setting.
- The firm prevented DDD from changing a student's residential placement against the wishes of his legal guardians. When the individual with special needs was a student, his school district agreed to residentially place him at Woods Services in Langhorne, Pennsylvania. However, when the student graduated, DDD notified his guardians of their intent to return him to an unknown placement in New Jersey. Through the advocacy efforts of Ms. Freeman, DDD agreed to maintain his placement.
- The firm successfully resolved a case against two school districts that were responsible for depriving a student with Asperger's Syndrome of a free appropriate public education. Since the student was placed in an out of district setting, the local school district believed it did not have any obligation to monitor the student's IEP. As a result, the student was not provided with any specially designed instruction to address his unique needs, and he regressed to the point where he was not permitted to return to school. As a result of Ms. Freeman's intervention, both schools agreed to provide compensatory education to the special needs student and reimburse the parents all of their legal fees.
- The firm successfully settled a case against a school district who insisted that it could meet the individualized needs of a student with Cerebral Palsy. While the student was able to comprehend the material taught in the regular education class, his social, emotional and life skills were not addressed in this environment. As a result of Ms. Freeman's intervention, the student was residentially placed in a school for students with similar disabilities where he could meaningfully benefit from his educational program in all required areas.
- The firm successfully negotiated increased behavioral support for a student placed in a regular education classroom. The district conceded that the student comprehended the classroom material but proposed changing his placement to a more restrictive setting solely due to his behaviors. Instead of moving him to a more restrictive setting, the district agreed to provide a behaviorist in the regular education class to work with the student individually and train the paraprofessionals to implement the behavior management plan.
- The firm succeeded in compelling school district to use a Teacher for the Deaf for a 4th-grade student after an interpreter and special education teacher would be sufficient for the student to make progress in a general education environment.
- The firm secured reasonable accommodations for a law student sitting for the Bar exam. The Board of Bar Examiners had granted the student a 50% increase in time, over a two-day period. This would have required the student to sit for two ten-hour days – nondisabled candidates only had to sit for 7 hrs. As a result of Ms. Freeman's intervention, the candidate was awarded full relief: 100% extended time over a three-day period.
- The firm secured a group home placement funded by the Division of Developmental Disabilities for an adult with autism who had severe behaviors.