$1.35 Million Settlement Ends UC Davis Litigation

Last August we blogged about the district court decision in the U.C. Davis case, in which the court found that the university did not comply with Title IX's requirement of equitable opportunity under either prong of the three-prong test during the time that the plaintiffs were students. A trial on damages was set to occur a month from now, but yesterday the parties settled rather than continue to litigate the question of how Davis would make it up to the prevailing plaintiffs. The parties agreed that Davis will pay plaintiffs' attorneys $1.35 million to cover the costs of litigation.

The plaintiffs, who wanted to wrestle for Davis, but were cut from the men's team and did not have a team of their own, are reportedly pleased with the final outcome of this case, which produced favorable judicial precedent that a university is not in compliance with prong two if it cuts women's opportunities without replacing them.