A lawsuit challenging a portion of Florida’s “Stop WOKE Act” that places restrictions on businesses’ worker training sessions came to a close this month with state officials agreeing to pay plaintiffs who challenged the law $725,000 in attorney fees and costs.
In a document filed Nov. 19 in the Northern District of Florida, counsel for the defendants, including Gov. Ron DeSantis and Attorney General Ashley Moody, said the parties agreed to a settlement on attorney fees earlier in the month. Judge Mark Walker then ordered the parties to comply with terms of the settlement, which gives Florida officials 30 days to provide payments to the plaintiffs’ counsel, Ropes & Gray LLP and Protect Democracy Project.
A section of the Stop WOKE Act, or House Bill 7, attempted to ban workplace discussions that lie at the heart of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) training conducted by corporations. The plaintiffs consisted of a Florida honeymoon registry company, Honeyfund; Primo Tampa, a majority Black-owned business and Ben & Jerry’s franchisee; and a workplace diversity consultant, Collective Concepts, and co-founder Chevara Orrin.
The federal district court initially granted the plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction, and the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals then affirmed the injunction, which the plaintiffs’ attorneys said effectively decided the merits of the case in their favor.
The section of the law in question violates free-speech rights under the First and 14th amendments to the Constitution, Walker said in a ruling that permanently stopped enforcement of the section.
Shalini Goel Agarwal, special counsel for Protect Democracy, said she expected that the decision on attorney fees would have a positive impact.
“It’s a substantial award, and we are hopeful that it will help to steer Florida and any other states that are considering similar actions in the right direction,” Goel Agarwal told the Florida Record. “I think the court’s decision confirmed what was clear even before the governor announced the Stop WOKE ACT, that it’s clearly restricting speech and trying to restrict speech based on its viewpoint.”
The plaintiffs viewed the law as intruding into their internal policies or causing harm to their businesses’ ability to survive.
“For some of them, it was about their public image, like Primo Tampa, a 100% Black-owned franchisee of Ben & Jerry's, and they explicitly market themselves as building wealth in Black communities through ice cream,” she said. “So it was both internal and existential for them.”
And for Chevara Orrin of Collective Concepts, DEI training was at the core of her business, according to Goel Agarwal.
Plaintiffs’ attorneys filed a motion in the Northern District of Florida to determine attorney fees and costs in September. They sought a total of $790,786 for both Ropes & Gray and Protect Democracy, including a $6,375 payment for their fees expert.
Ropes & Gray reported that its portion of the settlement will go toward its pro bono program, in particular its pro bono fellowships. Protect Democracy’s share will go toward its efforts to prevent authoritarianism and its related effects in the United States.
As a result of the litigation, nothing currently bars Florida employers from adopting DEI training programs or mandating that employees attend such training.