Florida preparing for possible class action lawsuit over banning of transgender treatment
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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Attorneys for the State of Florida are trying to fend off an attempt to create a class-action lawsuit out of a challenge to new restrictions on treatments for transgender people.
The state on Monday filed a 28-page court document urging U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle to reject certification of a class action in a lawsuit filed on behalf of transgender children and adults. The lawsuit challenges a new law (SB 254), championed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, that banned doctors from providing treatments such as hormone therapy and puberty blockers to transgender children.
The law also put restrictions on treatments for adults diagnosed with gender dysphoria.
A revised version of the lawsuit, filed on July 21, sought class certification. The lawsuit breaks down types of plaintiffs into three potential classes, depending on whether plaintiffs are children or adults and certain other circumstances. In each class, it said "common questions of law and fact exist" to support class certification. But in the document filed Monday, attorneys for the state argued that class certification is "entirely inappropriate" in the case, in part because of what they said are varying factors involving plaintiffs.
"There are no common legal or factual questions in any of the plaintiffs’ three proposed classes that could conceivably counsel in favor of class certification," the document said.