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Causes of Action: Claims under Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Section
504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and Americans with Disabilities Act; claim under 42 U.S.C. §
1983 alleging due process violations.
Plaintiff’s Attorneys: Andrew Erba, Sherri Eyer, Gerald Williams, Philadelphia, PA.
More Information: http://www.paed.uscourts.gov/documents/opinions/08d0005p.pdf.
Evancho, et. al v. Pine-Richland School District, No. 2:16-cv-01537 (W.D. Pa. 2016).
Settlement: $135,000 ($20,000 to each student and $75,000 in attorneys’ fees), plus injunctive
relief.
Injunctive Relief: School will rescind its discriminatory bathroom policy and update its
nondiscrimination policy to include gender identity.
Multiple Plaintiffs (three).
Harassment/Injuries: Transgender discrimination.
Basic Facts: Three transgender high school students sued after the school revised their bathroom
policy to require transgender students to use bathrooms associated with their biological sex.
Causes of Action: Title IX claim for sex discrimination; §1983 claim for discrimination based on
sex and transgender status in violation of students’ rights under Equal Protection Clause of
Fourteenth Amendment.
Plaintiffs’ Attorneys: Omar Gonzalez-Pagan, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc.,
New York, NY; Christopher Clark, Lambda Legal, Chicago, IL; Tracie Palmer and David
Williams, Kline and Specter, P.C., Philadelphia, PA.
More Information: http://www.post-gazette.com/local/north/2017/03/13/Pine-Richland-
transgender-bathroom-lawsuit-legal-experts-say-ruling-will-impact-national-
cases/stories/201703090010; http://www.post-gazette.com/news/education/2017/08/08/Pine-
Richland-School-District-transgender-students-lawsuit-settlement-bathroom-
policy/stories/201708080093;
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/education/wp/2017/08/09/pennsylvania-school-district-
settles-with-transgender-teens-who-alleged-discrimination-over-bathroom-
policy/?utm_term=.a0fd056e4479.
Hay v. Somerset Area School District, 2017 WL 2829700 (W.D. Pa. 2017)
Settlement: $5 million.
Single Plaintiff.
Harassment/Injuries: Sexual abuse.
Basic Facts: Teacher Stephen Shaffer began abusing Heather Hay, now 31, when she was
fourteen and in the eighth grade. School administrators were aware of allegations of
inappropriate conduct by Shaffer against female students as early as 1991, but allowed him to
continue teaching and having contact with female students. Shaffer began appearing at Hay’s
soccer games, had Hay keep her books in his classroom instead of her locker, and insisted that
she give him a kiss when she came to retrieve her books. If she refused, he became enraged.
Shaffer touched Hay inappropriately at school and at his home where she came to babysit his
children. He eventually raped her on the couch in his home while his children were asleep
upstairs. He continued contacting her through the internet, sometimes posing as his own
daughter, and suggested he would commit suicide if she left him. Years later, in 2008, Shaffer
was criminally charged.
Causes of Action: Title IX claim; constitutional claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.
Plaintiff’s Attorney: Joel Feller of Ross Feller Casey LLP (Philadelphia, PA).