May 14, 2024
Willkie and co-counsel Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund (TLDEF) secured a ruling at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit that upholds a Georgia federal court’s determination that employers who refuse to cover gender-affirming care violate federal law.
On May 13, 2024, a panel of Eleventh Circuit upheld a landmark 2022 ruling in Lange v. Houston County that found that plaintiff Sgt. Anna Lange, a Sheriff’s Deputy for Houston County, Georgia, had been illegally denied insurance coverage for medically necessary care. The Eleventh Circuit decision is the first decision by a federal appellate court affirming that it is unlawful for an employer to discriminate against transgender people in an employee health plan.
Willkie filed the pro bono lawsuit in 2019, in partnership with TLDEF, Cooper, Barton & Cooper in Macon, Georgia, and Professor Kevin Barry of the Quinnipiac University School of Law Legal Clinic. In June 2022, the Georgia court issued a summary judgment ruling that the defendants violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by denying coverage for Sgt. Lange’s medically necessary gender-affirming surgery and related treatments. In September 2022, a federal jury in Macon, Georgia, awarded Sgt. Lange $60,000 in compensatory damages.
The Willkie team was led by partners Wesley Powell and Jill Grant and associates Catherine Fata and Amanda Payne.
On May 13, 2024, a panel of Eleventh Circuit upheld a landmark 2022 ruling in Lange v. Houston County that found that plaintiff Sgt. Anna Lange, a Sheriff’s Deputy for Houston County, Georgia, had been illegally denied insurance coverage for medically necessary care. The Eleventh Circuit decision is the first decision by a federal appellate court affirming that it is unlawful for an employer to discriminate against transgender people in an employee health plan.
Willkie filed the pro bono lawsuit in 2019, in partnership with TLDEF, Cooper, Barton & Cooper in Macon, Georgia, and Professor Kevin Barry of the Quinnipiac University School of Law Legal Clinic. In June 2022, the Georgia court issued a summary judgment ruling that the defendants violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by denying coverage for Sgt. Lange’s medically necessary gender-affirming surgery and related treatments. In September 2022, a federal jury in Macon, Georgia, awarded Sgt. Lange $60,000 in compensatory damages.
The Willkie team was led by partners Wesley Powell and Jill Grant and associates Catherine Fata and Amanda Payne.
