I filed this lawsuit pro se in June 2023 after exhausting every internal and administrative option available to me, and after being told by many legal professionals that I had no case. I refused to believe that.

In 2022, not only did I lose my job due to blatant discrimination after disclosing the symptoms of my Endometriosis, but the aftermath upended my entire life. Just 5 days later, my then-husband left because the financial strain was more than our marriage could survive. For the next three months, I was homeless. The future I had spent so long building collapsed in just a matter of two weeks. I lost everything. But I turned this loss into fire.

I wrote every brief. I deposed every witness. I argued alone in federal court. I learned the law as I lived it and refused to let my harm be treated as ordinary. None of it was easy but all of it was necessary.

Some say that this is the first case in all of North Carolina to recognize endometriosis as an ADA disability, and the first case in the nation to allow a plaintiff to proceed on this theory. As of yesterday, it was resolved for a substantial settlement, but more importantly, for institutional reform.

This season has taught me so much about the importance of persevering against all odds. It taught me that change only happens when we are bold enough to fight back; even when others try to convince us otherwise. I know now more than ever that I have been called to do this work, and that is a call that I will continue to answer with a resounding “yes.”

Yet, the work is not finished. As of this week, I am halfway through law school and will be continuing my fight for civil rights for all people as a civil rights attorney upon graduating.

I end by reaffirming that I am committed to fighting just as fervently for the rights of my future clients as I have for myself. This is quite literally just the beginning and I am eager to see what is to come.

But as for now…this case is SETTLED👩🏿‍⚖️

She jumped to help a stranger with a car full of kids and smiled through the task while actively dealing with her own tribulations. What a lighthouse.

Cannot believe I actually won this, I just saw a post from someone the other day asking if anyone actually wins these and the next day I got one in the mail! I am honestly shocked

great job, F1exican

Someone on BlueSky noticed that they could select redacted text - eg the original text was still available just obscured, from US vs. Virgin Islands, Case No.: ST-20-CV-14/2022.03.17-1%20Exhibit%201.pdf).

With a python script, we can ingest the whole document and extract all text, then rebuild it in the same layout (roughly) for legal minds to consider. It can be accessed here. To my knowledge the vast majority of the redacted portions of this document are now accessible.

The legal reference point here is recently heavily redacted files recently released by the Justice Department which involve the late Jeffery Epstein.