Case Database

What’s at Stake When a new law is enacted, it must also be interpreted and applied correctly by courts. That’s why the first legal cases regarding a new law can be extremely important. This case is about ensuring a 2022 law protecting access to justice...

Wellpath is one of the largest providers of correctional health care services in the United States. On any given day, Wellpath is responsible for providing care to more than 220,000 people at over 400 carceral facilities, including prisons, jails, and immigration detention centers. Since its...

What’s at stake: The amount of time a survivor has to file a lawsuit under Title IX. Summary: Just before she turned 21, E.R., a South Carolina resident, filed a lawsuit against her former school district, Beaufort County School District, for violating her Title IX...

What’s at stake: Protecting trans students from “forced outing” policies. Summary: During the summer of 2023, Chino Valley Unified School District adopted Board Policy 5020.1, a forced outing policy. Under this rule, if a student requested to use a name or pronoun, or access school...

Exactly when is the removal of decrepit, inoperable hydroelectric dams NOT in the public interest? In cooperation with American Whitewater and Earthrise Law Center, Public Justice is challenging the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) decision allowing a corporation to surrender its license to operate the...

What’s at stake: The rights of transgender students in South Carolina to use restrooms consistent with their gender identity. Summary: In 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit confirmed that transgender students must be allowed to use restrooms consistent with their gender...

What’s at stake: Whether a school district is liable when it fails to take obvious steps to prevent sexual abuse. Summary: Crystal Ayon’s five-year-old daughter was sexually abused by her school bus driver for months. Crystal noticed something was wrong when the bus began to...

What’s at Stake Whether or not federal law overrides (preempts) state-level disclosure laws for harmful chemicals. Case Details As a landscaper, David Schaffner spent nearly three decades working with the pesticide Roundup. In 2006, Mr. Schaffner developed non-Hodgkins lymphoma. People with heavy exposure to glyphosate,...

What’s at stake: Whether hundreds of victims of childhood sexual abuse can file lawsuits under the Maryland Child Victims Act. Summary: From 1973 to 1977, while in high school at the Key School in Annapolis, Maryland, Valerie Bunker was sexually abused by two different teachers...

What’s at stake: Whether Florida can ban transgender teachers from using pronouns and titles that best express who they are. Summary: Katie Wood is a 10th grade algebra teacher in a Florida public school. She is also a transgender woman. Her students have always addressed...

If a party writes unfair and unenforceable terms into a contract on purpose, should the rest of the contract be enforced at all? In March 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed a preliminary injunction that paused the arbitration initiated by Advanced...

What’s at stake: Whether a key federal employment law protects students workers from discrimination Summary: Meng Huang, a former PhD student at the Ohio State University, filed a lawsuit alleging a shocking pattern of abuse: Her advisor had sexually harassed her for years, starting the...