Sophia Serrao
Thu, 04/14/2022
The Ninth Circuit has determined that a group of female student athletes who are suing the Campbell High School over systemic discrimination in the school’s athletics programs may proceed as a class. Title IX is a federal civil rights law that requires gender equity in education which applies to sports programs in federally funded high schools. The plaintiffs, on behalf of themselves and hundreds of female athletes at the school, seek gender equity in the sports programs through system-wide change and compliance with Title IX.
In 2018, four athletes who played various sports filed the lawsuit due to various gender-based discriminatory practices. For example, the school lacks an athletics locker room for girls, while having stand-alone locker rooms for boys. The girls also experience inferior practice and game facilities, coaching absences, unequal access to athletic trainers, and less marketing for the girls’ teams or games. As a result, the plaintiffs allege, the school does not offer equal athletics programs for female athletes. The girls also allege a class-wide retaliation claim because the school threatened to cancel the girls’ water polo program after they initially raised concerns about the athletics inequities.
In 2019, the federal district court in Hawai’i denied class action status to the case. This decision would have required each student to pursue their claims individually, resulting hundreds of separate lawsuits and creating a burden for the parties and the courts. The plaintiffs appealed the decision to the federal appellate court where, on April 4, 2022, a three-judge panel reversed the earlier ruling and determined the female athletes could pursue their claims as a class. The Court acknowledged that allegations of systemic discrimination under Title IX favor class actions.
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