Aaron Benner started teaching at St. Paul Public Schools in 1995 and earned immediate praise for his outstanding results and devotion to students.  He earned tenure in 1999 and was nominated for Minnesota Teacher of the Year in 2005.  He was the only black male teacher at Johnson Elementary during the 2014-15 school year.

In July 2013, the St. Paul School Board adopted a “racial equity” policy.  Superintendent Valeria Silva hired an outside consultant – Pacific Educational Group – to implement the policy across St. Paul schools. PEG rooted its implementation program in Critical Race Theory, which teaches that “everything in life should be viewed through the prism of race and through privilege.”  Silva admits that PEG departed from Dr. Martin Luther King’s teachings that we should aim for a color-blind society, where people are judged by the content of their character, not the color of their skin.

PEG trained all teachers to “[i]dentify, examine, and ‘de-center’ the role and presence of whiteness in their own lives and classrooms.”  The District evaluated teachers on their ability to “[a]pply Critical Race Theory & Protocols as they respond to something” and directed them to draft “racial autobiograph[ies].”  PEG instructed teachers to begin speaking by first acknowledging their race: “[A]s a white woman, I feel this.”

PEG also set mandates to reduce disciplinary numbers amongst African American boys to make the statistics more “equitable.”  “[W]e were told we have to lower the suspension rates of African American males, we are told that we’re going to be working with this lanes of equity, we have racial equity, and rules changed, behavior standards changed just for one segment of the population, of our African-American boys.”  The District pressured teachers to not write behavior referrals for black boys.  Teachers who nonetheless wrote behavior referrals were interrogated as to why they triggered students. And administrators didn’t act on many referrals that teachers wrote, instead opting to send violent students right back into the teacher’s classroom. The District imposed no discipline or lenient discipline on black students compared to other races in order to improve its behavior statistics.

The District’s implementation of its racial equity plan unleashed mayhem, as teachers no longer had the tools or support necessary to deal with persistent behavior issues, including violence.  Students quickly understood that teachers possessed very limited authority to impose consequences for misconduct, and soon even normally well-behaved students stopped following the rules.  The chaos made it difficult, if not impossible, for teachers to maintain a conducive learning environment and focus on their core mission of educating students.

Benner thought that the District’s implementation of its equity policy was illegal because it held black children, especially black boys, to a lower set of expectations and rigor than other children. Benner believed that lower expectations for black boys crippled them and set them up for future failure.

So Benner went to the School Board meeting on May 20, 2014 and told Board members what he thought:

“So, here we are, 51 years later, and currently in our schools, lack of character is now being excused due to students’ skin color . . . I believe we are crippling our black children by not holding them to the same expectations as other students.  I am here because black students can and should behave in any classroom, regardless of race, gender, or ethnicity of their teacher . . . we can do a better job in St. Paul helping our black students and others . . . [C]ussing out your teacher is not black culture; not following directions is not black culture; hitting other students is not black culture; and assaulting your teacher is not black culture . . . We are losing our black kids to the streets.  It’s already hard for these kids. Don’t make excuses for them, because the police will not have excuses for them when they lock them up.”

Over the next school year – 2014-15 – the District investigated Benner 4 times and disciplined him 3 times.  He had never been disicplined before in his entire 19 year teaching career.  He ultimately resigned in summer 2015 because he thought he had no choice.

He brought a claim for constructive discharge against the District.  We represented him and defeated the District’s motion for summary judgment in May 2019.  In August 2019, the Court ruled that Benner could seek punitive damages for the District’s conduct.

In September 2019 – just weeks before trial – the District settled his case for $525,000.

We were honored to represent Benner, who had the courage of his convictions and told the truth about the tragic impact of the District’s decision to focus more on students’ race than their character.

Mark Henderson was a hostage held at gunpoint in a room at the Woodbury Red Roof Inn on August 30, 2012.  He fled the room and approached Woodbury police officers with his hands raised.  He complied with their commands to get on the ground.  As he lay unarmed in a prone position approximately 10-12 feet in front of them, the officers shouted conflicting and contradictory commands that even they couldn’t hear or understand.  Within seconds, they opened fire and killed him.

Henderson’s family brought a lawsuit against the officers and Woodbury in August 2015.  The officers argued that the doctrine of qualified immunity protected their actions.  The doctrine of qualified immunity basically says that, in order to be liable for their actions, officers need to knowingly violate an established constitutional right – negligence is not enough.  They argued that Henderson didn’t comply with their command to show his hands, and while on the ground, he made a “blading” movement toward them that justified his shooting.

In November 2016, Woodbury brought a motion for summary judgment, asking the district court to dismiss the Henderson family’s case because the officers were protected by qualified immunity.  In February 2017, the district court granted Woodbury’s motion and dismissed the case.

We thought the district court erred by not considering crucial evidence, including the officers’ statements from the night of the shooting, where at least one officer admitted that Henderson complied with all officer commands.  So we appealed the case to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.

In November 2018, the Eighth Circuit reversed the district court’s opinion and held that the case should go to a jury trial.  The Eighth Circuit held that the district court erred by failing to consider the officers’ statements from the night of the shooting, and that a jury could rely on those statements to conclude that Mark complied with officer commands, but was shot and killed anyway.

In April 2019, just weeks before trial, Woodbury settled with Henderson’s family for almost $1.5 million – the full amount of insurance policy limits.

We were honored to represent the Henderson family.

Dr. Robert Roswick worked as a family practice physician at Mid Dakota Clinic in Bismarck, North Dakota.  He felt that Mid Dakota’s CEO and Board of Directors were racially discriminating against an Indian-American colleague of his by pushing forward with termination without allowing the colleague the same due process rights afforded to other shareholders at the Clinic.

So Dr. Roswick took action.  He emailed his fellow shareholders, gave them the factual basis as to why he believed the bylaws weren’t being followed, and told them he believed that their colleague was a victim of racism.  Mid Dakota’s CEO and Board promptly retaliated: they suspended Dr. Roswick’s employment and moved for his termination.  At his termination meeting, Board members openly told shareholders that “The reason we are here today is that Dr. Roswick raised this complaint of discrimination and made that known.”  The shareholders approved Dr. Roswick’s termination from Mid Dakota.

Dr. Roswick retained Madia Law in early 2017 and filed suit under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act for retaliation.  It is unlawful for an employer to retaliate against an employee who makes a good faith report of discrimination.  Mid Dakota defended the lawsuit by arguing that Dr. Roswick made a “false” complaint of discrimination that wasn’t in good faith.

The case went through 2 years of discovery and motions and finally went to trial before a Bismarck federal jury on August 5, 2019.  At trial, key Mid Dakota witnesses admitted that there was nothing “false” in Dr. Roswick’s email and, in fact, several key elements were true.

A jury deliberated for just over 4 hours before returning a $1.2 million verdict for Dr. Roswick.  The Bismarck Tribune covered the verdict.

We were honored to represent Dr. Roswick, as he stood up and did the right thing, even when it was hard.  We’re humbled to be one of the few employment firms in the country that routinely take cases all the way to trial. And we’re of course grateful at the hard, thoughtful, and brave work of the jury that decided the case.

(Minneapolis; March 7, 2019)—Alice James will join Attorney General Keith Ellison and Department of Human Rights (MDHR) Commissioner Rebecca Lucero in suing a plasma collection company for its discriminatory ban on donations by transgender persons.

In 2011, Ms. James began donating plasma at CSL Plasma locations in Minnesota. For nearly four years, CSL refused to acknowledge Ms. James’ gender identity. In 2015, CSL stopped allowing Ms. James to donate plasma, citing a company policy barring transgender persons from making such donations. That policy violates the Minnesota Human Rights Act. In 2016, Ms. James filed a discrimination complaint with the MDHR. That complaint led to the lawsuit filed this week by the MDHR and Attorney General.

Minnesota has long been a leader in rejecting unfounded and overly simplistic notions regarding gender. In 1975, the Minneapolis became the first government in the nation to outlaw gender identity discrimination. In 1993, Minnesota was the first state to do so.

In the 43 years since Minneapolis led the way, our collective understanding of gender has grown substantially, and dozens of states and localities now ban businesses from discriminating simply because a person’s gender differs from the one assigned at birth.

Said Joshua Newville, one of Ms. James’ lawyers: “CSL brazenly ignores these laws and bans all transgender persons from donating plasma purely on account of their transgender status. There is no legitimate justification for such a ban. We look forward to joining this lawsuit and to working with the Attorney General and the Commissioner. We are also grateful for their support.”

Said Ms. James: “I am proud to live in a state where the law demands that people be treated fairly. I hope this case helps to ensure fair treatment for other Minnesotans.”

From the Minneapolis Star Tribune:

The Minnesota Department of Human Rights is suing a self-proclaimed “leader in plasma collection” for allegedly discriminating against a transgender woman who was banned from donating because of her gender identity.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison is expected to file the lawsuit Thursday on behalf of the department against CSL Plasma Inc., which identifies itself as “one of the world’s largest collectors of human plasma.”

“Obviously, anyone’s gender identity is a core component of who they are, and we want to make sure that the core component of who they are is protected and celebrated,” said Irina Vaynerman, the department’s deputy commissioner of human rights.

CSL Plasma Inc. declined to comment Thursday.
“Since the matter is in litigation, we will have no comment as we have not yet been served with the suit,” the company said in a written statement.

The department is suing in response to a complaint filed by Minneapolis resident Alice James, whose attorney said he expects her to also join the suit as a plaintiff.

“I am proud to live in a state where the law demands that people be treated fairly,” James said in a written statement provided by her attorney. “I hope this case helps to ensure fair treatment for other Minnesotans.”

James would not be speaking with the media about her experience with CSL Plasma, said her attorney, Joshua Newville.

“Although she is very interested in the outcome of this matter and seeing justice done for both herself and others in the state of Minnesota, she doesn’t really want this case focused on her,” Newville said. “She wants this case focused on CSL Plasma and the broader understanding of gender identity.”

James was a regular donor at CSL Plasma for years and relied on it as part of her income until the company told her in 2015 that it did not accept donations from transgender people, Newville said.

“That had a pretty catastrophic impact on her both financially and emotionally,” he said. “That sort of conduct can’t stand, especially in places like Minnesota, and I hope this lawsuit will make that clear.”
According to Newville: James was living in Duluth in 2011 when she began donating plasma at the company’s location there. She identified herself as a woman, but the facility “rejected” that and forced her to identify as a man in their records.

James donated plasma a few times a week throughout the years in Duluth. In 2015, she pushed the company to identify her as a woman in their records. At some point after that, her attorney said, she was told she could no longer donate because of her gender identity.

James filed a discrimination complaint with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights in 2016, which investigated and found in 2017 that the allegation had merit.

The department tried to initiate settlement talks with CSL Plasma Inc. that included recommended policy changes, but the company refused to engage, Vaynerman said.

The company reported that it had “a flat ban on all transgender donors,” Vaynerman said, adding that its refusal to engage in settlement talks compelled the lawsuit.

The company’s practice flies in the face of FDA recommendations, which allow donors to self-report their gender and recommends “screening out only men who have had sex with other men once or more in the past year,” the lawsuit said.

James never met that criterion for being screened out, her attorney said.
Newville said James attempted to donate plasma in October 2018 at a Minneapolis location. She was denied again, and the company stopped responding to Newville’s queries.

“She was told there is indeed a policy in place — and I was told this by their attorneys as well … that bans transgender persons from donating plasma,” Newville said. “They have not really explained their rational or justification behind it.”

The company’s alleged actions are especially egregious, he said, because in 1975, Minneapolis became the nation’s first governmental body to make discrimination based on gender identity illegal, and in 1993, Minnesota was the first state in the country to do the same.

The state’s lawsuit is asking that a judge: Find CSL Plasma in violation of the state anti-discrimination law, financially compensate James “up to three times the actual damages sustained as well as damages for mental anguish and suffering,” require the company to pay a civil penalty to the state, order their employees to undergo training on discrimination, submit quarterly reports regarding its deferral of transgender donors at its Minnesota locations and reimburse the Department of Human Rights and the state Attorney General’s Office for expenses.

According to the company’s website, CSL Plasma is headquartered in Boca Raton, Fla., and is a division of CSL Behring of Pennsylvania. The parent company, CSL Limited (ASX: CSL), is headquartered in Melbourne, Australia.

Twitter: @ChaoStrib

Madia Law’s Joshua Newville has been selected to serve on the Federal Practice Committee for the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota. The Federal Practice Committee works with the Court to improve the administration of justice in Minnesota’s federal courts. Newville was nominated to the Committee in 2018 by United States District Court Judge Patrick J. Schiltz. Newville will serve on the Committee from January 2019 to December 2021.