In First-Impression Case, Judge Ordered to Reconsider Former MIT Student’s Request to Proceed Anonymously in Title IX Suit
“If you really look through the issues, you come up believing that in this area of campus sexual misconduct cases under Title IX that pseudonym treatment is totally appropriate,” Philip A. Byler, Nesenoff & Miltenberg, said on behalf of the plaintiff. “Transparency and all this is great, but knowing the names of the exact litigants isn’t necessary. You’ve had plenty of public commentary on these cases and you haven’t really had to know who the specific person was.”
In a matter of first impression, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit considered when it is appropriate for a party to a civil suit in federal court to appear under a pseudonym.
The appellate court conclude that the district court applied the wrong standard when denying the plaintiff’s motion to proceed under a pseudonym.
The court detailed appropriate circumstances for the judge to reconsider.
Over the past decade, Andrew T. Miltenberg, a managing partner at Nesenoff & Miltenberg in New York, said he’s seen ebbs and flows in educational institutions accepting students’ requests to proceed in a civil lawsuit under a pseudonym.
The firm specializes in representing students and faculty in Title IX due process matters and cases that concern sexual misconduct in higher education. Due to the complicated, intimate and potentially damaging issues, many clients wish to forego attaching their names when seeking redress in the courts, Miltenberg explained to Law.com Thursday.