In Riverside, California Monday, a judge refused to dismiss a case brought against a Lutheran high school on behalf of two students who were expelled because the school suspected that they were maintaining a lesbian relationship. The San Diego Union-Tribune yesterday reported that by allowing the case to proceed to trial, Superior Court Judge Gloria Connor Trask implicitly rejected defense arguments that their First Amendment free exercise rights precluded application of the Unruh Civil Rights Act to the private religious school. (See prior related posting.) The case is Mother Doe v. California Lutheran High School Association.
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
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Mother Doe vs. California Lutheran High School Update
We have just won by Summary Judgment a case of significant importance to all churches, church schools and their insurers in the State of California.
Specifically, Mother Doe, et al. vs. California Lutheran High School, et al., a case in which California’s public accommodation law, the Unruh Civil Rights Act [Civil Code section 51], came into direct conflict with the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution’s freedom of religion and the grant of expressive association, we persuaded the court that a private, not for profit, religious school is not a business subject to the constraints of the Unruh Act.
Factually, two girls who were perceived to be lesbians were held to have violated the Christian Code of Conduct of California Lutheran High School and were expelled. They then brought action against the school on a number of theories that all centered around discrimination against a protected class, in violation of the Unruh Civil Rights Act.
The trial court’s holding that the religious School does not have to accept as students those who express contrary views and that religious, not for profit private schools, are not businesses subject to the Unruh Civil Rights Act is expected to be appealed to the California Court of Appeal.
We will update this web site as this nationally important case travels through the appellate process.
We will be updating this case as it progresses at our web site at www.mbglaw.com. For further information feel free to contact us.
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