Ropes & Gray Team Secures Significant Pro Bono Fee Settlement From The State of Florida In Stop Woke Act Litigation

Ropes & Gray, along with its co-counsel Protect Democracy, recently secured a significant fee settlement in the amount of $725,000 from the State of Florida after obtaining a statewide permanent injunction ending enforcement of the employer provisions of Florida’s HB 7, also known as the Stop WOKE Act, which the Eleventh Circuit ruled unconstitutional under the First Amendment. The Act, which had been announced and subsequently touted by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, banned the endorsement of certain concepts central to the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) trainings conducted by many Fortune 500 companies. A number of other states have attempted to enact or have been contemplating similar anti-DEI legislation.

Plaintiffs in this case, Honeyfund v. DeSantis, were Florida honeymoon registry company Honeyfund and Ben & Jerry's franchisee Primo Tampa (a majority black-owned business), along with workplace diversity consultancy Collective Concepts and its co-founder Chevara Orrin.

The fee settlement is significant, especially in light of the speed and efficiency with which the case was litigated in the district court, at the Eleventh Circuit, and back to the district court, all within the span of two years. Various news outlets, including CBS News, covered the fee settlement.

Ropes & Gray’s portion of the fee settlement will go toward its widely recognized pro bono program, in particular its pro bono fellowships. Protect Democracy’s portion of the fee settlement will go toward its core mission of preventing authoritarianism and its effects in the U.S. Importantly, Plaintiffs were able to secure a resounding win for all similarly situated individuals and entities in Florida looking to conduct workplace diversity trainings and related activities, free from the whims of their state’s government, and have set an important First Amendment marker for other states across the U.S.

The Ropes & Gray team is led by partner and chair of Ropes & Gray's appellate and Supreme Court practice Doug Hallward-Driemeier and litigation & enforcement partner Amy Jane Longo, and includes litigation & enforcement associates Phil Yao, Nathalia Sosa, and Jason Claman. The team was supported by summer associate Margaret Sannicandro, as well as senior litigation paralegal Mark Callahan. The team was also previously supported by associates (then-summer associates) Jake Barr, Kate Kaplan, Alexys Ogorek, Veronica Cihlar, Angelica Colino and Jafar Khalfani-Bey.