On behalf of Children’s Hospital Colorado, Keker, Van Nest & Peters attorneys defeated a contempt citation seeking $1.5 million per month in penalties in a closely watched class action concerning gender-affirming care for transgender minors.
Following a bench trial, a Denver judge ruled on September 22 that the hospital had fully and completely complied with all court orders, dismissing the plaintiffs’ contempt citation.
The lawsuit, Bella Boe et al. v. Children’s Hospital Colorado, challenges the hospital’s temporary suspension of certain gender-affirming care in response to federal government threats to withdraw its eligibility for federal funding.
The case has drawn national attention from children’s hospitals and medical providers facing similar threats by the government, a campaign that Keker partner Elliot Peters called a “a reign of terror by the federal government against transgender care providers.”
Earlier this year, Keker helped Children’s Hospital Colorado successfully challenge a Justice Department subpoena seeking sensitive patient records. A magistrate judge found that the subpoena was issued for the improper purpose of pressuring the pediatric hospital into ending transgender care. Read the order here.
The class action remains ongoing, with a trial on the merits scheduled for early 2027.
Read coverage of the court’s ruling in Law360 and The Denver Post (subscriptions required) and The Colorado Sun.
The Keker team includes Elliot Peters, Cody Gray, Michael Deamer and Kelly Hernandez.
