Seek Damages for All Women Athletes for Past Violations, Equality in the Future
Nineteen former members of UC Davis’s recently-eliminated female equestrian team filed a sex discrimination class action against the school today for discriminating against all its female student-athletes by depriving them of equal athletic financial aid in violation of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, seeks to make UC Davis pay close to $1,400,000 to its female athletes for depriving them of athletic financial aid and paying it to the male athletes instead in 2023-24 and 2024-25, the last two years for which information is publicly available. It also seeks damages for the athletic financial aid the women were and are being illegally deprived of in other years, including last year and this year (the amounts are not yet public), and a court order requiring UC Davis to comply with Title IX and provide equal athletic financial aid in the future.
Title IX, a federal civil rights law, prohibits sex discrimination in all educational institutions that receive federal funds. It requires schools to grant athletic financial aid to male and female athletes in dollar amounts proportional to their athletic participation rates.
UC Davis recently eliminated its women’s equestrian team and cited an “independent external assessment” by a consultant to support its decision. The assessment showed, however, that UC Davis was not providing women with their legally required proportional share of athletic financial aid. The class action is based on that data and on reports UC Davis provided and verified as accurate to the U.S. Department of Education under the Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act.
“We were devastated when UC Davis eliminated the equestrian team, which was successful and thriving,” said Plaintiff and UC Davis senior Anna Donovan, an award-winning former equestrian team member. “Then, we were stunned even more when the school tried to defend its decision by releasing a consultant’s report showing it was depriving women athletes annually of hundreds of thousands of dollars in equal athletic financial aid.”
Former equestrian team members Avery Adamson, Sophia Blake, Addyson Brown, Mya Clader, Sabine Close, Katya Dundas, Chloe Fares, Margaret Franke, Carmen Gonzalez, Liliana Grosz, Laura Holliday, Hannah Janicki, Nicole Jimenez, Nicole Shroyer, Cavan Smith, Zadie Stack, Lola Sullivan, and Mylea Trimble are also Plaintiffs in the case.
“When UC Davis cut the equestrian team, it showed what it cared about was the money. So, this case focuses on the money,” said Arthur Bryant of Arthur Bryant Law, P.C., in Oakland, CA, lead counsel for the women. “UC Davis’s own numbers show it has been cheating its women athletes out of hundreds of thousands of dollars annually in equal athletic financial aid. That is clear and indisputable sex discrimination.”
Eric Grover of Keller Grover LLP in San Francisco, CA, co-counsel for the women, added, “This case isn’t complicated. It’s math. Based on the numbers UC Davis provided to the federal government, the math shows UC Davis is discriminating against its female athletes in violation of Title IX. We intend to hold it accountable.”
Robert Spencer of Keller Grover LLP is also co-counsel for the women athletes.