6-2215. EFFECT ON PENDING LAWSUITS. (1) Chapter to apply to pending lawsuits. This chapter shall apply to any lawsuit pending on its effective date that has not proceeded to final judgment in the district court on the effective date of this amendment to this section if the lawsuit presents constitutionally based educational claims or counterclaims by any patrons or by the state of Idaho or state officers and shall apply to any lawsuit bringing a constitutionally based educational claim filed after its effective date.

(2) Procedure for pending lawsuits. If this chapter applies to a lawsuit pending on the effective date of this amendment to this section, all proceedings in the lawsuit shall be suspended for fifty-six (56) days from the effective date of this amendment to this section, except to notify the district court of the passage of this amendment and to allow refiling of complaints consistent with this subsection. Any patrons who are parties to such a lawsuit shall have the fifty-six (56) days of the suspension period to file parens patriae complaint(s) consistent with the requirements of this chapter. The legislature and superintendent of public instruction shall have the fifty-six (56) days of the suspension period to file parens patriae complaint(s) consistent with the requirements of this chapter. If a patron files a parens patriae complaint under this subsection, the legislature and the superintendent of public instruction may intervene as a matter of right pursuant to section 6-2206, Idaho Code, within the time period prescribed by section 6-2206, Idaho Code. If any complaints are filed under this subsection, separate complaints shall be filed for each school district that is a defendant, and venue for such a suit against a school district shall be in the county in which the school district maintains its principal business office. At the expiration of the fifty-six (56) day suspension period described in the first sentence of this subsection, any school districts that are defendants to patron suits or to parens patriae suits under this chapter shall be able to answer as provided by the Idaho rules of civil procedure. All further proceedings in such a suit shall be pursuant to this chapter.

(3) Dismissal of entities not parties and transfer of records in pending lawsuit. School districts that were parties to a lawsuit that presented constitutionally based educational claims or counterclaims on the effective date of this section and that are not defendants in any complaints filed pursuant to subsection (2) of this section shall no longer be parties and shall be dismissed from any proceedings that were suspended. Any defendant to a lawsuit that presented constitutionally based educational claims or counterclaims on the effective date of this section and who is not a defendant authorized by this chapter shall be dismissed from any proceeding that was suspended. Any plaintiff, defendant or an intervenor as of right to a lawsuit filed under subsection (2) of this section in which there is a school district that was a party to a lawsuit that presented constitutionally based educational claims or counterclaims and which lawsuit was suspended under subsection (2) of this section may designate the portions of the records of the suspended lawsuit that pertain to the school district. Upon written request of the plaintiff, the defendant, or an intervenor as of right or the court in a lawsuit filed under subsection (2) of this section, those parts of the record designated by the plaintiff, defendant or an intervenor as of right or the court shall be copied by the clerk of the district court of the suspended lawsuit and forwarded to the clerk of the district court presiding over the complaint filed under subsection (2) of this section and shall be included in the record of that case.

History:

[6-2215, added 1996, ch. 258, sec. 1, p. 854; am. 2003, ch. 339, sec. 3, p. 915.]