Lawsuit: "Discrimination against Women in Family Court"
Women Unite to File Complaint in Federal Court
The lawsuit has been updated.
Originally, the plan was to file a class action lawsuit consisting of representatives and members. Over 1200 mothers in the U.S. alone signed up for it.
However, after consulting with attorneys, the suit has been revised to a civil rights lawsuit with similarly-situated plaintiffs. That means all mothers who’ve signed up to be representatives, as well as members, can now be plaintiffs.
Also, the lawsuit was originally going to be filed first in California and later in other states. But now it is open to being filed in any states where there are civil rights attorneys (or someone comfortable with civil rights law) willing to take it.
Since the U.S. deems custody cases to be under state jurisdiction, the suits must be filed state by state. But that’s fine, because we can get local media on them. One benefit of these lawsuits is they will help the public understand the terrible injustices inflicted on women in family courts and support our efforts for a new system.
The good news is we already have a draft lawsuit ready to go, so attorneys in every state will have something to work with. And after the first suit is filed, it will be much easier for others.
Since there have been no attorneys who’ve offered to take the lawsuit pro bono yet, we are now raising funds for it. We’ve just started a Gofundme for that purpose.
Please consider donating. The more we get, the more attorneys in more states will be able to file. And the more states we file in, the more support we will have for our cause of ending the Custody Crisis.
We presently have leads in Massachusetts, New York, and California. Please ask around in your state for attorneys willing to take on this unprecedented and crucial civil rights lawsuit.
THE LAWSUIT
Lawsuits will be filed in federal district courts. A jury will be demanded.
Plaintiffs make the claim that women’s state and federal rights to equal protection, procedural due process, and substantive due process are being routinely and systemically violated in family courts. Defendants are judges of the state’s trial court, collectively.
Declaratory relief is requested confirming that women have a right to equal protection and due process in custody cases and that those rights are being systemically violated in Family Court because they are women.
Other relief requested is for injunctions that judges allow plaintiffs to have custody and visitation reinstated and/or a right to a de novo (brand new) proceeding.
The complaint includes a list of discriminatory conduct by judges. Each plaintiff will list which ones apply in her case (made easy to check off in the form to join linked below).
DISCRIMINATORY CONDUCT
a. Denying women a hearing or allowing women only a perfunctory hearing in matters where women’s fundamental rights, liberty interests and other protected rights were at stake.
b. Giving temporary custody to men pending trial when a nondiscriminatory application of the law would have resulted in temporary custody being granted to women.
c. Appointing custody/parenting evaluators who demonstrated bias against women and favored men.
d. Appointing minor’s counsels or guardians ad litem to represent children who demonstrated bias against women and favored men.
e. Accepting reports from custody evaluators and minor’s counsels/guardians ad litem that discriminated against women and favored men, and allowing them to influence judicial decisions.
f. Subjecting women to mental health evaluations while ruling that men need not be subjected to mental health evaluations, based on the same quality and quantity of evidence.
g. Adjudicating matters in a sex discriminatory manner by favoring men even when evidence overwhelmingly demonstrated that men should not have been favored.
h. Discrediting women despite much evidence supporting they were telling the truth and/or little evidence they were lying; and crediting men when there was little evidence supporting they are telling the truth and/or much evidence they were not.
i. Minimizing and denying credible evidence and reports by women of a man’s abuse and poor parenting; and crediting non-credible evidence and reports by men of a woman’s abuse and poor parenting.
j. Making findings women are alienating children from men when alienation is not occurring; and not finding men are alienating when alienation is occurring.
k. Disregarding the legal requirement that courts prioritize the best interests of children in a manner that favored men over women in custody and visitation rulings.
l. Ordering reunification of children with men credibly accused of abuse; and not ordering reunification of children with women who have not been credibly accused of abuse.
m. Ordering supervised visitation for women without credible evidence they are a danger to their children; and not ordering supervised visitation for men when there is credible evidence they are a danger to their children.
n. Threatening women, but not men, with loss of custody if they objected to the court’s position or orders.
o. Threatening women, but not men, with loss of custody if they continued to litigate for custody of, or visitation with, their children.
p. Issuing orders sealing records which favor women, while not issuing orders sealing records which favor men, based on a similar quality and quantity of evidence.
q. Issuing gag orders against women who spoke out or wanted to speak out, while not issuing gag orders against men.
r. Holding women in contempt and jailing them for exercising their First Amendment right to free speech; while not holding men in contempt or jailing them for similar conduct.
JOINING THE LAWSUIT
If you’d like to join the lawsuit, please fill out this form.
If you have previously joined the lawsuit, it would be best if you would still fill out this new form as it has the list of discriminatory actions you can simply check off. Otherwise, you can email that info separately and we will add it to your submission.
If your custody case is closed, it doesn’t matter how long ago it was heard, you may still join. The statute of limitations usually requires only some cases to be current. Since the discrimination has been ongoing, old cases are allowed.
If you have a problem with filling out the form, you can email your information to womenscoalitionintl@gmail.com. Include your name, county, state and dates of your case, along with which discriminatory acts were involved. Subject: join lawsuit
TAKEAWAYS
The primary purpose of this lawsuit is to officially establish that there is, in fact, systemic discrimination against women in family courts.
Another important reason for the lawsuit is that it is a precursor to demanding legislators implement the new system we are proposing. We are proposing that custody cases be heard in regular civil courts with the right to a jury. [If you know anyone able to help with writing legislative code, plz contact us.]
The many women joining the lawsuit and identifying the actions taken against them makes clear there is a pattern that constitutes systemic discrimination. And that is true even if cases are dismissed. By coming together as women and making our lived experiences in an unjust court system known, we are documenting the Custody Crisis and making a difference.
This lawsuit will benefit all women. Mothers everywhere can cite the lawsuit in court or to family and friends to validate the unbelievable injustice they’ve been subjected to in Family Court—no matter where their case is.
If mothers’ cases are current, they may receive injunctive relief for custody/visitation to be returned, or be allowed a new proceeding. If your case is past, you will be helping to end the crisis for women who are presently affected and those who will find themselves in this nightmare in the future.
If you are in another country, we will hopefully be taking action internationally after some cases are established in the U.S.
If you have questions about the lawsuit or are willing to help in your state, please join Sisters in Solidarity (our activist arm). See below for details.
Please support our efforts by joining the lawsuit and/or contributing to our gofundme. Even small donations add up!
You may also give a gift subscription to a friend who is going through the Family Court nightmare.
Or feel free to support the Coalition’s work through a one-time or recurring contribution at Paypals Giving Fund.
All contributions are greatly appreciated & thanks to everyone who has subscribed!
My email is nsharrow@gmail.com. I wrote the post below. I think the UCLA PTSD children’s trauma screener could be used in court to argue against separating mothers from children. Separating children from a parent is on the same screener as being in a war torn country or a Victim of sex trafficking
God bless you!! As a survivor of DV I lost my daughter in Family Court because I reported the criminal history of abuse for both me and my daughter. Despite his documented criminal history against me and daughter Family Court did not care. This is an outrage for mothers who seek refuge for their families yet are punished for using their voice to protect themselves and their families. Thank you!!