Aetna Gender-Affirming Facial Surgery Litigation
Gordon, et al. v. Aetna Life Insurance (D. Conn.): Cohen Milstein is partnering with Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund (TLDEF), now known as Advocates for Trans Equality (A4TE), and Wardenski P.C. in a putative civil rights class action against Aetna Life Insurance Company on behalf of three transgender women, who were denied coverage for medically necessary gender-affirming facial reconstruction procedures.
Amazon Flex Driver Mass Arbitration
Amazon Flex Driver Arbitrations (AAA): Cohen Milstein represents thousands of current and former Amazon Flex delivery drivers in California, Illinois and Massachusetts who allege that Amazon misclassified them as independent contractors instead of employees to avoid paying them overtime or reimbursing for expenses, and to deny them other benefits under these states’ laws. These cases are currently being litigated before the American Arbitration Association.
Apple Gender Pay Discrimination Litigation
Jong, et al. v. Apple Inc. (Cal. Sup., S.F. Cnty.): Cohen Milstein is representing current and former female Apple employees in a putative gender pay discrimination class action. Plaintiffs claim that since 2020, Apple has violated California’s Equal Pay Act and Fair Employment and Housing Act by systematically paying women lower wages than male employees who perform substantially similar work.
Bird, et al. v. Garland
Bird, et al. v. Garland (D.D.C.): Cohen Milstein represents a putative class action of 34 current and former female FBI agents, who claim they suffered systemic gender discrimination and subsequent termination from the FBI’s Basic Training program for new agents and intelligence analysts. The putative class bring their claims of disparate treatment and disparate impact under the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Center for Reproductive Rights v. Department of Health and Human Services
Center for Reproductive Rights v. Department of Health and Human Services (D.D.C.): On October 15, 2019, Cohen Milstein, on behalf of the Center for Reproductive Rights, filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) for failing to produce records related to the Office for Civil Rights’ operations and enforcement of civil rights laws after two Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) requests went effectively unanswered.
Connecticut Fair Housing Center, et al. v. CoreLogic Rental Property Solutions
Connecticut Fair Housing Center, et al. v. CoreLogic Rental Property Solutions (D. Conn.): Cohen Milstein is partnering with Connecticut Fair Housing Center and the National Housing Law Project in the representation of Carmen Arroyo, as well as the Connecticut Fair Housing Center itself, in a cutting-edge legal challenge to CoreLogic’s algorithmic background check system which allegedly discriminates against African Americans and Latinos seeking rental housing in violation of the Fair Housing Act. Because of the novel artificial intelligence (AI)-related discrimination claims, the case has been identified as one of Law360’s “3 Real Estate Cases to Watch in 2022.”
Harris v. Medical Transportation Management, Inc.
Harris, et al. v. Medical Transportation Management, Inc. (D.D.C.): Cohen Milstein represents non-emergency medical transportation (NEMT) drivers in a certified class action alleging that their employer, Medical Transportation Management, Inc. (MTM), knowingly and willfully failed to pay proper wages to its NEMT drivers across Washington, D.C. under federal and District of Columbia law. This lawsuit seeks to hold MTM liable as a joint employer of the drivers.
IBM Age Discrimination Litigation
Rodriquez, et al. v. IBM (S.D.N.Y.): Cohen Milstein is representing 16 former employees of IBM Corporation who claim that IBM terminated their employment because of their age in violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). Plaintiffs claim that in an effort to rebrand its image and shift its recruiting focus to “Millennials,” people born between 1980 and 1996, IBM carried out a company-wide “Resource Action” scheme of discharging its older workers through group terminations.
Lee, et al. v. Trump, et al.
Thompson, et al. v. Trump, et al. (D.D.C.): In partnership with the NAACP, Cohen Milstein is representing members of Congress in a novel civil rights lawsuit filed under the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871 against Donald J. Trump, in his personal capacity, the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, alleging that they conspired to prevent members of Congress from carrying out their constitutional duty to certify the results of the 2020 election on January 6, 2021. The case addresses novel questions of presidential immunity and the First Amendment. On December 1, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit decided that President Trump is not entitled to official-act immunity for his actions leading up to and on January 6 as alleged in the complaint, since he was acting as an office-seeker, not an officeholder.