US court rules expert fees 'not costs'
A court in America has ruled that expert witness fees are not recoverable by parents who win actions under the country’s Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
In a judgement that would seem perverse to British experts, the US Supreme Court held that: “the term ‘costs’, as it appears in the statute, is a ‘term of art’ that did not include expert expenses.”
The judgement came in the case of Arlington Central School District Board of Education vs Murphy.
The applicable provision of the IDEA [20 USC 1415(i)(3)(B)] states that “[i]n an action or proceeding brought under this section, the court, in its discretion, may award reasonable attorneys’ fees as part of the costs to the parents of a child with a disability who is the prevailing party.”