10th Circuit rejects sorority sisters’ appeal in UW transgender lawsuit - WyoFile (2024)

The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals Wednesday handed a procedural loss to a group of sorority sisters who unsuccessfully sued Kappa Kappa Gamma at the University of Wyoming for admitting a transgender woman.

In an eight-page decision, the appellate court dismissed the plaintiffs’ appeal, ruling that it did not have jurisdiction over the case since the lower court had not issued a final order.

The question of the court’s jurisdiction in the matter was at the heart of oral arguments held in Denver last month, making the procedural resolution not all that surprising.

In April 2023, six members of Kappa Gamma Gamma filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Wyoming against the sorority for admitting Artemis Langford, a transgender woman.

The plaintiffs — Jaylyn Westenbroek, Hannah Holtmeier, Allison Coghan, Grace Choate, Madeline Ramar and Megan Kosar — accused the sorority of breaking its bylaws, breaching housing contracts and misleading sisters when it admitted Langford by a vote of its members.

But U.S. District Court Judge Alan B. Johnson dismissed the lawsuit in August 2023, ruling that the plaintiffs failed to adequately state a claim against Langford or her sorority, and that the government cannot interfere with how a private, voluntary organization like Kappa Kappa Gamma determines its membership.

Johnson ruled “without prejudice,” which gave the plaintiffs the option to refile an amended complaint. He also offered advice on how to do so.

“If Plaintiffs wish to amend their complaint, the Court advises Plaintiffs that they devote more than 6% of their complaint to their legal claims against Defendants,” Johnson wrote regarding their 72-page complaint.

“If provided another opportunity to clarify unclear language within an amended complaint, Plaintiffs should not copy and paste their complaint in lieu of elaboration or legal research that assist the Court in disentangling their claims,” Johnson added.

Instead of refiling, however, the plaintiffs hired two high-powered attorneys to appeal the dismissal to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Attorneys for the sorority argued that Johnson’s ruling was not appealable. The appeals court agreed on Wednesday.

“Here, although the district court did not expressly grant leave to amend, there is no ambiguity regarding the court’s intent,” Circuit Judge Carolyn B. McHugh wrote in the ruling.

“First, the district court provided guidance in its dismissal order explaining how Appellants could properly plead their claims in a future second amended complaint,” McHugh wrote.

Immediately following oral arguments in Denver last month, May Mailman, an attorney for the sorority sisters, took the judges’ interest in the question of jurisdiction to indicate the appeals court was not interested in weighing in on the case.

The court was “looking to try and find a small reasons to not hear this case,” Mailman told reporters as she stood on the steps of the Byron White U.S. Courthouse.

“They’re trying to avoid that because somehow there have been pressures in society that have minimized the importance of women and women’s spaces and made it OK for people to act like they’ve forgotten what a woman is,” Mailman said.

Mailman on Wednesday called the ruling “wrong” on X, formerly known as Twitter, and said the court created a procedural “out” since it “desperately wanted to avoid” weighing in on the substance of the case.

“We are not discouraged,” Mailman wrote. “If anything, this is a positive sign. The Kappa women are right legally and morally, the court knows this, and it’s simply a matter of when they are vindicated.”

The appeals court outlined the choices that remain available to the sorority sisters.

They may return to the district court to “seek a dismissal with prejudice so that they may perfect an appeal, or they may amend the complaint and pursue further proceedings in the district court,” according to the ruling.

“The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit confirmed Kappa Kappa Gamma’s perspective and dismissed the plaintiff’s appeal,” a spokesperson for the organization told WyoFile in a statement. “This once again confirms the previous court’s rulings regarding the rights of private organizations. We appreciate the appellate court’s ruling in this matter.”

This is a developing story and will be updated.