Three Somali-owned childcare centers denied attorney fee reimbursement by the Minnesota Court of Appeals after licensure suit

By Grace Enfield

Judge Diane B. Bratvold of the Minnesota Court of Appeals denied three Minneapolis Somali-owned childcare centers reimbursement for over $46,000 in attorney fees and expenses on January 11, 2021, after their licenses were suspended in 2019. The court stated that the childcare centers didn’t qualify as a “party.”

In May and June 2019, the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) received notice of “suspected licensing violations” at Broadway Child Care Center Inc., Central Childcare Center Inc., and Madina Academy Central Inc. In visits to the childcare centers, the DHS found a number of instances that “did not comply with health and safety standards.” DHS representatives found that the childcare centers didn’t have adequate staff distribution, had classes that were over capacity, lacked records for the children who were enrolled, and did not have training records for some employees. On July 3, 2019, Administrative Law Judge James E. LaFave signed a temporary and immediate suspension order for the childcare centers’ licenses. The childcare centers appealed and presented records of children who attended the centers and documentation of staff training. The DHS lifted the license suspensions for all three centers on August 2, 2019, stating the children were no longer in “imminent risk of harm.” The judge dismissed the case.

Attorney Rhyddid Watkins represented the childcare centers in the case. “It’s a very disappointing outcome,” Watkins said. “In my view, there is no other way to describe how the state agency treated the centers than racist.” He explained there was a student record issue because of an influx of students. Another childcare center near one of the Somali-owned centers had closed down, prompting parents to rush to other centers. He also said that other centers in the area were not held to the same standard as the three Somali-owned centers. They had committed more serious offenses, such as allowing young children to walk out of the building unaccompanied, but their licenses were not suspended.

After the appeal, the three centers applied for reimbursement of the attorney fees and expenses. The centers cited the Minnesota Equal Access to Justice Act. According to the act, the prevailing party may apply for reimbursement of attorney fees and expenses in part if the state was “not substantially justified” in their position. The Administrative Law Judge denied their reimbursement application, citing the centers did not qualify as a “party” as the statute requires. According to the statute, a party excludes those who provide services with a license.

The Minnesota Court of Appeals later affirmed the decision of the lower court judge, citing the centers did not qualify as a party based on the plain language of the statute. As a result of the decision, one of the three centers permanently closed its doors. Watkins expects the others may have to do the same soon because of the fees, along with the effects brought on the centers by COVID-19. He said that he strongly disagrees with the outcome of the case. “If you’re small, and don’t have the resources, you could end up going bankrupt. The Equal Justice Act was designed to prevent that.”