Limitations

Many causes of action (laws saying who can sue for what) have statutes of limitations, i.e., you must sue within a specified time after the event occurred (or should have occurred, but did not).  Often these are tolled (or put off/postponed) because the person who really owns the cause of action (i.e., the victim) is either under 18 or is  suffering from some recognized infirmity such that s/he was unable to commence suit within the statutory timeframe.

In many areas of law, such as child support and medical malpractice, children are allowed to sue after reaching the age of majority.

However, despite this right in other areas of law, Texas has imposed a one-year statute of limitations in IDEA matters. This means that although a student is operating under a “double” disability (minority and the disabling condition), Texas believes that kids should only be able to seek redress for violations of their legal rights in special education for a one-year period.

Although there are “exceptions” to the one-year statute of limitations exist through the federal law IDEA, in the vast majority of cases Texas hearing officers currently are presenting a united front in finding that the child’s/family’s case just about never meets the requirements of any of the exceptions.

Why are Texas kids entitled to less than what other children in most of the rest of the nation receive? Are our children worth less here?

This clearly needs to be changed legislatively. You are urged to contact your legislators to ask them to sponsor a bill to at least apply a two-year statute of limitations, which is the limitations period that most other states have.

 

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