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FIRST ON FOX: Parents from Northern Virginia late Wednesday night surpassed the massive $125,000 bond that a judge ordered them to pay to defend their sons, who were suspended and found responsible for sexual harassment after objecting to a transgender classmate using their male-only locker room, in court.
The parents, who are suing the Loudoun County Public Schools district, raised over $125,000 ahead of the Friday deadline and even met the original Wednesday deadline before it was granted an extension.
They were originally ordered by a federal judge to come up with the funds by the end of the day on Wednesday if they wanted to keep fighting for their sons in court. The $125,000 “bond” was ordered by the judge in the case, Leonie Brinkema, who said the money is meant to ensure that the parents would be able to pay for the school district’s attorney fees if they end up losing.
“We have serious doubts that such a bond can be legally required, and this requirement that the plaintiffs put up the money to pay the government’s attorneys fees is certainly very unusual and unexpected, especially when the government acknowledged in court that its insurance policy is covering legal costs,” Josh Hetzler, co-counsel for the parents, said in a statement to Digital.
PARENTS: VIRGINIA BOYS SUSPENDED AFTER QUESTIONING TRANSGENDER LOCKER ROOM POLICY WERE IGNORED BY SCHOOL
Digital interviewed two Virginia parents whose kids have been accused of sexual harassment for complaining about a girl using their locker room. (/istock)
Before taking the case to federal court, Hetzler, Wolfe and Smith sought other avenues to ensure the two boys were not suspended or marked as sexual harassers on their permanent record. They sought to appeal the Loudoun County Public Schools Title IX sexual harassment investigation finding, which came after the boys were videotaped by a biological female who identified as transgender inside the boys’ locker room. The video caught them outwardly complaining to each other about the fact that there was a girl using their facilities, which resulted in the boys’ suspension and the district’s harassment finding against them.
However, the appeal was ultimately denied by the district, so the decision was made to take the matter to federal court with the help of Trump-aligned law group America First Legal (AFL).
Meanwhile, on Friday, Judge Brinkema, for the Eastern District of Virginia, extended a temporary halt to the boys’ suspension so that they could continue attending class as the case is adjudicated. But, simultaneously, Brinkema also expressed “significant weaknesses in aspects of the plaintiffs’ allegations” in another ruling that same day, which ultimately required Wolfe and Smith to drum up $125,000 over the next three business days if they wanted to keep fighting the matter in court.
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“Fortunately, we have an extension until Friday,” Ian Prior, AFL’s attorney assisting on the case, said as the Wednesday bond deadline approached, and it appeared they would not have the funds.
According to Prior, it is not entirely “atypical” for the prevailing party in a preliminary injunction to have to put up a bond. However, Prior noted, in public interest cases such as this one, bond requirements are often set very low, sometimes even at $0. Prior also said he was not aware of bonds being required to cover attorneys’ fees.
A transgender flag waves at an undisclosed location on an undisclosed date (left). A judge uses his gavel (right). Parents face a $125K bond deadline in Loudoun County, Va. on October 15. (Getty Images/iStock)
“In most cases, it is done where a company is enjoined from doing something, like selling a certain kind of widget for example, and the injunction will cost them something,” Prior told Digital. “The bond helps assure that if the prevailing party does not ultimately succeed, the other party is made whole from the impact the injunction had. We are not aware of bonds being required to cover attorneys’ fees however.”
In Brinkema’s order, she explicitly indicated the bond was to ensure “that if the defendant prevails on dispositive pre-trial motions, it can recover from that bond its attorney’s fees.”
Wolfe and Smith, following the bond order, set up an online fundraiser to help them raise the funds. As of Wednesday morning, the online fundraiser had collected around $50,000, but before the end of the day, a single donation of $50,000, from Michael Dearing, who appears to be an angel investor, pushed the parents within $25,000 of their $125,000 goal.
Video from a locker room in Stone Bridge High School where a trans male was in a male bathroom. (Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office)
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When asked about what their plans would be if they were unable to raise the full amount, Prior indicated that there were “a multitude of options” that could be taken.
“The more that the students raise, the easier it will be to post bond, even if they do not get to the full $125k,” Prior told Digital. “To be clear, the case does not get dismissed without posting the bond – rather, we would lose the preliminary injunction and the suspensions would take place immediately and the findings would be put into the students’ records at a time when they would likely be applying for higher education.”