Gender Equity
Hall v. Millersville, No. 19-3275 (3d Cir.)
Karlie Hall was murdered in her dorm room by her abusive boyfriend. Although the University had received ample notice of his violence, and despite their obligations under Title IX, the University took no action to intervene. This suit seeks to clarify Universities’ obligation to provide safe, equitable access to the benefits of a college education, when they know of gender-based violence occurring on their campuses.
Update: All Rise has won, read the opinion.
Snyder-Hill v. Ohio State, 21-3981 (6th Cir.)
All Rise Trial & Appellate filed an amicus brief on behalf more than 50 scholars of psychology and psychiatry, explaining that victims of trauma often do not recognize that they have been sexually assaulted or abused when it happens—an especially common phenomena when they are abused by someone upon whom they have a dependent relationship. It also explains that people who fail to recognize sexual assault or abuse in the moment still suffer serious effects of abuse.
Brown v. State of Arizona, No. 20-15568 (9th Cir.)
Mackenzie Brown was assaulted at her college by a fellow student who had previously assaulted two other classmates. The school knew this, and not only took no disciplinary action, but let his football give him permission to move off campus—a privilege reserved for students with good behavior. Then, it disclaimed responsibility for Mackenzie’s assault because it happened off-campus. With Public Justice, All Rise has filed an en banc petition to ensure schools cannot endanger students by pushing threats off-campus.
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Update: the 9th Circuit granted our petition, and we have won en banc—read the opinion.
Allegheny Reproductive Health Center v. Pa. Dep’t of Human Services, 26 MAP 2021 (Pa.)
All Rise Trial & Appellate filed an amicus brief on behalf of the National Women’s Law Center, arguing that reproductive health clinics must have third party standing to assert the rights of their patients, because of the many obstacles—including stigma, harassment, violence, and logistical hurdles—that patients face when litigating those issues on their own behalf.
Doe v. University of the Sciences, No. 19-2966 (3d Cir.)
All Rise filed an amicus brief on behalf of Public Justice and more than a dozen civil rights organizations arguing that in campus investigations and disciplinary proceedings involving allegations of sexual harassment, people who accuse professors or students of sexual assault should not face direct cross-examination by the alleged harasser or abuser during those disciplinary proceedings.
M.L. v. Concord, No. 22-1830 (1st Cir.)
M.L. was assaulted by a classmate on her school bus, and then faced a campaign of retaliation for reporting that. Her school undertook shoddy investigations and did nothing to stem the tide of retaliatory harassment despite her repeated reports. This suit seeks to clarify that schools cannot take some ineffective action and thereby demonstrate lack of deliberate indifference.
Sonmez v. Washington Post, Nos. 22-cv-274 & 22-cv-301 (D.C. Ct. App.)
All Rise filed an amicus brief on behalf of advocates for victims and survivors of sexual violence, explaining why discrimination against people who have been sexually assaulted necessarily also amounts to discrimination on the basis of sex—because all sexual assaults are ultimately sex-based. Discriminating on the basis of victim status reinforces some of the very harms caused by the underlying assault.
John Doe 2 v. N.C. State Univ., No. 23-2073 (4th Cir.)
When a coach reported that he worried an athletic trainer was engaging in “sexual grooming” of male student-athletes, the school reduced (but did not eliminate) his access to students. Predictably, the trainer later assaulted John Doe (and others) under the guise of providing medical treatment. With Public Justice, All Rise represents John in seeking fair inferences about the school’s knowledge based on the trainer’s reassignment following the report.
Doe v. Univ. of Kentucky, No. 22-6012 (6th Cir.)
All Rise Trial & Appellate filed an amicus brief on behalf of the Public Justice and other Civil Rights and Survivor Advocacy Orgs arguing that Title IX’s broad protections extend to students who withdraw from school because of sexual harassment, and bar retaliation against them by a school during the course of a school’s own Title IX process investigating sex-based harassment.
All Rise Trial & Appellate is also a member of the Legal Network for Gender Equity, and regularly consults with people about cases involving sexual harassment and violence, including defamation suits by abusers against survivors of sex-based harassment and violence.