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Happy 2023! We hope you had a restorative holiday season.
The first weeks of the year brought progress for several important cases, including a Title IX opinion affecting independent contractors. And we had the chance to speak with members of the legal team that fought for thousands of Google employees — and won.
We also learned that over the holidays, The New York Times quietly inserted a mandatory binding arbitration clause into its subscribers' Terms of Service. We find this troubling because the Times has extensively reported on the ways arbitration robs regular people of their power to fight back against corporate abuse. Our Executive Director Paul Bland quickly responded with an op-ed condemning the decision, which he submitted directly to the Times' editorial board.
They chose not to run it.
We may never know why the Times made the decision to adopt arbitration, a practice they once called "a stacked deck." We do not know why, after printing eight other editorials critical of arbitration, they chose not to run ours. What we do know is this: The Times is refusing to listen to the deeply researched evidence its own journalists and editorial board members have uncovered over the past decade.
We ultimately self-published the piece in the Daily Kos. Please read and share it with your own networks.
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The Op-Ed The New York Times Doesn't Want You to See
Were the editors embarrassed by the company’s hypocritical decision regarding its recently enacted forced arbitration clause?
By Paul Bland
Executive Director, Public Justice
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And finally, don't forget to submit your nominations for our 2023 Trial Lawyer of the Year! The deadline is March 1 at 5 pm ET. A few years ago, we began producing mini-documentaries about each finalist. Which story would you like to see told? Share it with us today!
Thank you from all of us,
The Public Justice Team
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Lieff Cabraser’s Anne Shaver and Michelle Lamy on Advocating for Equal Pay at Google
In October 2022, the San Francisco Superior Court approved a $118 million settlement in Ellis v. Google, a class action gender discrimination lawsuit on behalf of more than 15,000 female employees at Google.
Public Justice recently sat down with member firm Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein LLP’s Anne Shaver and Michelle Lamy to discuss how they got involved in the class action, the importance of this win for Google employees and beyond, why class actions matter, and more.
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Do you know about a case or colleague that should be featured in a future Member Spotlight? Email Communications Director Lucy Sears at [email protected]. | | |
Ninth Circuit Grants Rehearing in
Arizona Title IX Case
University of Arizona student Mackenzie Brown was viciously abused by her classmate Orlando Bradford, a football player. The violence was preventable: By the time Bradford began abusing Mackenzie, the University already knew that Bradford had abused two other female students, yet did nothing to protect other students, including Mackenzie, from future violence. Instead, the football team gave Bradford special permission to move off campus, a privilege dependent on players’ good behavior.
A district court ruled that the school was not responsible for Bradford’s behavior because it occurred off-campus. When the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed that decision, our Students Civil Rights Project staff joined the case and filed a petition for a rehearing en banc in the Ninth Circuit. Our allies at the National Women’s Law Center authored an amicus brief in support of the petition, and 32 other organizations signed on.
On December 9, the Ninth Circuit granted the petition and vacated the panel opinion. We will argue the case in March 2023.
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Virginia Employer's Attempt To Silence Workers
With Arbitration Stopped
Last fall, alongside our colleagues at Murphy Anderson and the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, we filed a motion to dismiss an employer's lawsuit against three former employees after they reported the business to their state's department of labor.
The employer, a used college bookstore chain known as Bookholders, initiated legal action against the student employees for "breach of contract" because their employment agreements stated that all disputes must be resolved through arbitration. Bookholders had successfully used this tactic in the past, threatening and silencing others when they tried to recover unpaid wages. But using arbitration to prevent individuals from engaging with their government is an unconstitutional attack on their First Amendment rights.
We asked the court to dismiss Bookholders' bad faith lawsuits under Maryland's anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) statute. We are happy to report that the motion was granted and all three of the lawsuits were dismissed on January 6.
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Court Rules Title IX Protects
Independent Contractors
Accomplished psychotherapist Dr. Jenny Conviser and her company Ascend were DePaul University's mental health resource for student-athletes and athletics staff. But when Dr. Conviser spoke up about Title IX abuses and encouraged others to do the same, DePaul retaliated by reducing patient referrals and terminating her contract.
In 2021, Dr. Conviser filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. The complaint alleged violations of state contract law, and Title IX, which prohibits retaliation. DePaul moved to dismiss the complaint, arguing that Title IX does not protect independent contractors like Dr. Conviser. Earlier this month, that motion was denied, allowing the case to move forward.
The court was explicit in its opinion that Title IX serves a broad range of constituents, writing, "The plain language of the statute does not require a plaintiff to have been denied an educational benefit, nor does the statute limit its application to students, employees, or beneficiaries of the federal financial assistance."
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The Price of Freedom and Criminalization of Poverty
Actual change for the people in pretrial detention remains unrealized. That’s why Civil Rights Corp and Public Justice’s Debtors’ Prison Project, with a coalition of concerned lawyers and faith leaders, filed a class action lawsuit...on behalf of six individuals jailed in LAPD and LASD stations and jails for five days before seeing a lawyer or judge.
“Under LA County’s system, a person arrested for a less serious crime is locked up solely because she can’t pay, while another person arrested for a more serious crime is set free because he can afford bail. This is the definition of wealth discrimination, and it has no place in our society or our legal system,” says Debtors’ Prison Project Director Leslie Bailey.
By Dr. Danielle Dupuy-Watson
CEO, Civil Rights Corps
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Thank you for your support!
With your support, we met our special year-end matching gift goal! Your generosity gives us the tools we need to confidently tackle the biggest threats to justice in the year ahead. We are so grateful for your continued commitment to the fight for justice. Thank you!
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The 2023 Public Justice Presidents’ Party
Public Justice and the AAJ Minority Caucus invite you to join us for a celebration in the desert!
Monday, February 6, 2023
6:00 – 7:30 pm MT
JW Marriott Phoenix Desert Ridge Resort & Spa
5350 E Marriott Dr
Phoenix, AZ 85054
Featuring
Public Justice President Tom Sobol & Executive Director Paul Bland
AAJ Minority Caucus Chair Amber M. Pang Parra
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Thank you to our sponsors! | |
Public Justice welcomes this month's new members — your unwavering commitment to our mission of combating injustice helps us reach our goals. | |  |
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