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Congratulations to FPS&S Partners, Steven Coronado and Paul Gordon, as well as, Of Counsel, Mark Katz, who after 10 years, two trips to the Missouri Supreme Court and a jury trial, finally prevailed on the second trip to the Missouri Supreme Court to obtain a victory for a local school district in a case of first impression. In 2014 Plaintiff, a transgender student filed a claim with the Missouri Commission on Human Rights claiming he was discriminated against by the district because of his male sex. Plaintiff, a female student transitioning to being a male claimed he was discriminated against based on “his male sex”. This situation had never been addressed under the Public Accommodations section of the MHRA. The issue boiled down to the definition of sex. Without a definition of sex included in the MHRA the Missouri Supreme Court relied on the definition of sex found in Webster’s Third New International Dictionary (2002). Simply stated, the Missouri Supreme Court found the term “sex” was premised on a biological classification of individuals as either male or female. The Court concluded Plaintiff had failed to establish discrimination based on his male sex and instead determined the district’s actions of not allowing Plaintiff into the male locker room or bathrooms was based on Plaintiff’s biological, anatomical, and genetic status as a female. The decision by the majority of the Court reversed a judgment for over 4.1 million dollars and approximately 1 million in attorney fees.
For the full decision follow this link: Supreme Court of Missouri's decision in case number SC100694
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