{"id":44033,"date":"2026-04-02T20:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/explorecatholic.nl\/nieuws\/california-to-pay-4-5-million-to-catholic-law-firm-after-losing-lawsuit-over-gender-secrecy-rules\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T20:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T18:00:00","slug":"california-to-pay-4-5-million-to-catholic-law-firm-after-losing-lawsuit-over-gender-secrecy-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/explorecatholic.nl\/en\/nieuws\/california-to-pay-4-5-million-to-catholic-law-firm-after-losing-lawsuit-over-gender-secrecy-rules\/","title":{"rendered":"California to pay $4.5 million to Catholic law firm after losing lawsuit over gender secrecy rules"},"content":{"rendered":"

California will pay $4.5 million to a Catholic legal advocacy firm after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the state could not continue to hide student transgender identities from parents. <\/p>\n

In March the Supreme Court blocked California\u2019s rules<\/a> that forbid schools from informing parents if their children believed themselves to be the opposite sex. <\/p>\n

The high court had held that parents enjoy \u201cthe right not to be shut out of participation in decisions regarding their children\u2019s mental health.\u201d The ruling upheld a similar order<\/a> issued in December 2025 by U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez.<\/p>\n

On March 31, the Thomas More Society \u2014 which had represented the plaintiffs in the class-action suit against the California rules \u2014 announced<\/a> that Benitez had ordered California to pay $4.52 million in attorneys\u2019 fees to the Catholic legal firm. <\/p>\n

In his order<\/a>, Benitez said he was \u201cwell familiar\u201d with the yearslong lawsuit. He said California was guilty of \u201clitigation intransigence\u201d while fighting the lawsuit, such as \u201cwasting scarce judicial resources\u201d and \u201cresisting at all junctures.\u201d <\/p>\n

The state has \u201ccontinue[d] to fight\u201d over the case even after the Supreme Court ruling, Benitez pointed out, including claiming that the Supreme Court-approved injunction is \u201cflawed and needs to be modified.\u201d <\/p>\n

The $4.5 million fee was arrived at after applying a \u201cmultiplier\u201d of 1.25 to a base fee of around $3.6 million. Multipliers are often applied in certain high-risk or otherwise notable legal disputes. <\/p>\n

Peter Breen, litigation head at the Thomas More Society, said the massive award \u201csends an unmistakable message to state governments and school districts across the country: If you trample the constitutional rights of parents, you will pay for it \u2014 literally.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCalifornia threw everything it had at this case,\u201d Breen said. \u201cIt lost at summary judgment, lost at the Supreme Court, and now Californians will foot the bill for their government officials\u2019 refusal to respect the fundamental rights of families.\u201d<\/p>\n

In December 2025, Benitez had said the case concerned \u201ca parent\u2019s rights to information \u2026 against a public school\u2019s policy of secrecy when it comes to a student\u2019s gender identification.\u201d<\/p>\n

Teachers have historically informed parents of \u201cphysical injuries or questions about a student\u2019s health and well-being,\u201d the judge pointed out, yet lawmakers in California had enacted policies \u201cprohibiting public school teachers from informing parents\u201d when their child claimed to have an LGBT identity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

California will pay $4.5 million to a Catholic legal advocacy firm after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the state could not continue to hide student transgender identities from parents. In March the Supreme Court blocked California\u2019s rules that forbid schools from informing parents if their children believed themselves to be the opposite sex. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"bron":[41],"class_list":["post-44033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nieuws","bron-cna"],"acf":[],"featured_image_urls":{},"appp_media":null,"yoast_head":"\nCalifornia to pay $4.5 million to Catholic law firm after losing lawsuit over gender secrecy rules - ExploreCatholic<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/explorecatholic.nl\/en\/nieuws\/california-to-pay-4-5-million-to-catholic-law-firm-after-losing-lawsuit-over-gender-secrecy-rules\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"California to pay $4.5 million to Catholic law firm after losing lawsuit over gender secrecy rules - ExploreCatholic\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"California will pay $4.5 million to a Catholic legal advocacy firm after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the state could not continue to hide student transgender identities from parents. 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