SAN DIEGO, CA — A federal court yesterday ordered the State of California to pay $4.52 million in attorneys’ fees to Thomas More Society attorneys in Mirabelli v. Bonta, the landmark parental rights case challenging California’s policy of concealing children’s gender transitions from their parents, in which the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the Ninth Circuit and reinstated a class-wide permanent injunction protecting parents.

In an eight-page order, U.S. District Judge Roger T. Benitez of the Southern District of California granted the full fee petition and placed the blame for the size of the fee squarely on California’s own litigation strategy. The Court detailed a pattern of what it called “litigation intransigence” by state defendants—including repeated motions to dismiss immediately after prior ones were denied, filing an appeal without waiting for the Court’s ruling, and twice withdrawing arguments after they were “shown to be inarguably meritless.”

“A $4.5 million fee award sends an unmistakable message to state governments and school districts across the country: if you trample the constitutional rights of parents, you will pay for it—literally,” said Peter Breen, Executive Vice President and Head of Litigation at Thomas More Society. “California threw everything it had at this case. It lost at summary judgment, lost at the Supreme Court, and now Californians will foot the bill for their government officials’ refusal to respect the fundamental rights of families.”

The fee award was granted with a 1.25 lodestar multiplier, a rare enhancement reserved for cases of exceptional importance and outstanding results. The Court found every factor justified the multiplier: the constitutional significance of the case, the results achieved, the undesirability of the case, and the likelihood that no other attorney would have accepted it.

“California fought this case at every turn with meritless arguments and procedural gamesmanship, said Paul M. Jonna, Special Counsel at Thomas More Society and Partner at LiMandri & Jonna LLP. “The writing was on the wall in September 2023, when Judge Benitez issued a ground-breaking Preliminary Injunction with the controlling legal analysis. Rational government actors would have abandoned these dangerous policies then and there. Instead, California officials doubled down, wasted taxpayer resources, and left them holding the bag for this $4.5 million fee award. The State Defendants should be held fully accountable both for their reprehensible and dangerous policies, and also for their decision to fight this losing battle in the first place. Fortunately for the nation, their intransigence backfired and provided a great blessing: a U.S. Supreme Court order undoing gender secrecy policies for the country.”  

“This fee award reflects the enormous amount of work it took to overcome a state government that tried to cut parents out of decisions about their own children’s upbringing and well-being,” Jonna added. “We brought this case because Elizabeth Mirabelli and Lori Ann West asked their school district to respect their rights and the rights of parents—and were told no. This order confirms that California’s decision to trample parental rights was not only unconstitutional, but costly. Every school district and government official is now on notice and should ensure full compliance with the Court’s injunction.”    

Judge Benitez also noted that California continues to resist the ruling even after its Supreme Court loss. The Court observed that the State continues to litigate “based on the thinnest of arguments,” pointing to a recently-filed motion to modify the very injunction the Supreme Court had reviewed and reinstated.

Thomas More Society filed the case in April 2023 on behalf of Elizabeth Mirabelli and Lori Ann West, two award-winning middle school teachers who were denied religious accommodations by Escondido Union School District from California’s statewide policies requiring school staff to conceal students’ gender transitions from parents. Over three years of litigation, Thomas More Society attorneys won a preliminary injunction, achieved class certification, secured summary judgment with a class-wide permanent injunction, and ultimately prevailed at the U.S. Supreme Court in a 6-3 decision affirming the constitutional rights of parents.

“Thomas More Society will continue to enforce the Mirabelli ruling nationwide, and any school district or state that tries to cut parents out of their children’s lives should expect the same result,” Breen added.