⚖ Oral Arguments, with Context

The First Circuit hears a family's appeal over an injury at a special education school in Puerto Rico. Their child was allegedly struck by another student in December two thousand twenty-one. The parents say he was left injured and bleeding, and that the school failed to seek medical attention or tell them promptly. They describe the incident as part of a larger pattern in which they were kept from learning what was happening to their son at school. Those are allegations, not findings made after a trial. The family's federal claim arises under section nineteen eighty-three, a way to seek relief for federal rights violated under state authority. The school is private, and the district court assumed state action for its analysis without deciding that question. It nevertheless concluded that the complaint did not plausibly allege a constitutional violation. That distinction matters: a school's unreasonable or negligent response does not automatically become a federal constitutional wrong. The parents will argue that the alleged pattern of withholding information shows more than carelessness; the school will argue that the complaint does not describe conduct meeting the demanding constitutional standard. The judges will examine what facts were actually pleaded, not simply whether the complaint uses labels such as policy or deliberate indifference. There is also a separate tuition dispute. The school sought unpaid fees from the parents, who brought in the public education authorities, arguing that public funding should cover the debt. On reconsideration, the district court distinguished damages for past injuries from educational remedies requiring an administrative process before a federal lawsuit. It allowed the damages claim to be considered without that preliminary process, but later dismissed the constitutional claim because its allegations were insufficient. Keep the two threads separate as the panel sorts out which rulings and claims remain before it: the constitutional injury claim, and who, if anyone in this case, must pay the school's bill.

Lignos-López v. Servicios de Terapia Educativa Girasol (No. 25-1512) — U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, argued November 4, 2026.