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. But like many victims of childhood sexual abuse, she did…
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 her as “Ms. Wood” and referred to her with she/her…
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 Care Staffing (ACS), against Mr. Benzor Shem Vidal. Public Justice…
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 first time they met. For three and a half years,…
What’s at Stake What protections federal and Michigan civil rights law provides student victims of racial harassment. Summary The Malick family lived in Sanilac County, Michigan, which is overwhelmingly white. Their daughter, “C.M.,” is Black. While a student at Croswell Lexington School District, C.M. was subject to relentless racial harassment by her classmates. Students called…
This case involves issues around digital contract formation and electronic signatures, which can be used by companies to bind their customers and employees to terms they might never see or know about. This is especially critical when those terms take away important rights, like the right to go to court. Susan Parisi, a veteran and…
What’s at Stake Charles Adler, his son Grant, and Charles’s limited liability company, C. M. Adler, LLC, sued Gruma Corporation—one of the largest tortilla producers in the world—to challenge their retaliatory termination and to recover unpaid wages and other payments they were owed under state and federal labor law. After the district court granted Gruma’s…
In 2020, Samuel Voss purchased property in Cincinnati, Ohio. The seller used the proceeds from the sale to satisfy his mortgage with Rocket Mortgage (formerly Quicken Loans, LLC), but Rocket Mortgage did not report satisfaction of the mortgage with the county recorder’s office until after the 90-day deadline set by Ohio’s mortgage-recording statute. Mr. Voss sued…
All over the country, there are statutes authorizing local governments to impose fees on individuals for the supposed costs of their incarceration. Generally, these fees are referred to as ‘pay-to-stay’ because they require individuals to pay for time spent detained against their will. These laws essentially allow the government to charge a rate as if…