Carter v. Orleans Parish Public Schools

The Rehabilitation Act of 1973, we hold, affords a personal cause of action not only to persons who are excluded from federally funded programs because they are handicapped but also to those who are excluded because officials have incorrectly classified and treated them as being handicapped when they in fact are not. In this case, however, we find that the parent of children who may once have been improperly treated as being handicapped cannot obtain federal relief for this long-past event. Therefore, notwithstanding the existence of federal jurisdiction, the action must be dismissed for want of a claim for which relief can be granted. Robert W. Carter sued the Orleans Parish School Board in 1983, alleging jurisdiction under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which prohibits discrimination against the handicapped in programs that receive federal funding.1 He alleged that the Board had violated the Act between 1976 and 1978 with respect to each of his six children: one who was not mentally retarded was placed in a class for mentally retarded students without parental consent; two who were tested as normal or having no exceptionality were also placed in such a class without parental consent; and the other three were so placed without testing or the consent of the parents. He sought an injunction prohibiting the School Board from placing any child in classes for the mentally retarded without parental consent, the correction of his children's school records, and $15,000,000 in compensatory damages. The district court dismissed the suit for lack of federal jurisdiction, reasoning that the Rehabilitation Act does not grant a private cause of action for damages.