(August 8, 2024 – San Diego, California) On August 8, 2024, U.S. District Court Judge Roger T. Benitez allowed Thomas More Society attorneys to join parents and additional teachers and proceed to file the proposed class action complaint in Mirabelli v. Olson. The federal court order also permits the addition of California Attorney General Rob Bonta as a defendant in the proposed class action lawsuit challenging “Parental Exclusion Policies.”

On June 7, 2024, Thomas More Society asked the federal court to permit additional teachers, parents, and a school district, to be part of a proposed class action lawsuit, as representatives seeking class-wide relief. While the August 8 order from Judge Benitez denied the addition of a school district-plaintiff, Lakeside Union School District, it does allow the case to proceed forward with added parents and teachers, along with their associated classes and claims. ‍

Paul Jonna, Thomas More Society Special Counsel and Partner at LiMandri & Jonna LLP, reacted:

‍“We are incredibly pleased that Judge Benitez has granted our motion for leave to amend our complaint in Mirabelli v. Olson, permitting us to proceed forward with filing a statewide class action lawsuit that includes both teachers and parents. We intend to file a motion for class certification in short order, which will seek to expand our case to secure class-wide protection for not only the teachers forced to keep parents in the dark through unconstitutional Parental Exclusion Policies, but for all parents who seek this critical information about their school-aged children.”

“Moreover, we look forward to prosecuting this case against California Attorney General Rob Bonta, whose addition to the suit has now been permitted with this order. Despite the clarity in the law brought by the federal preliminary injunction we won before Judge Benitez in Mirabelli v. Olson, in September 2023, Attorney General Bonta has ignored it, and state officials have pursued legal action in open defiance of the court’s order. In doing so, Attorney General Bonta is at the tip of the spear of the institutional push to unconstitutionally violate the rights of parents and teachers. Our clients hope to put this issue to rest once and for all—by obtaining class-wide relief on behalf of all teachers and parents.”

Read the Order Granting-In-Part and Denying-In-Part Plaintiffs’ Motion to Amend in Mirabelli, et al. v. Olson, et al., filed by U.S. District Court Judge Roger T. Benitez, on August 8, 2024, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California, here.

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