While students were packing up to leave town for Thanksgiving break, Miami University received its own break from a legal battle, when a judge ruled in the university's favor in a dispute over its domestic partner benefits.
But that break will be short-lived, as the other side is already planning to appeal the decision.
Judge Charles Pater of the Butler County Court of Common Pleas ruled Nov. 20 that Ohio state Rep. Thomas Brinkman Jr. (R- Cincinnati) did not have legal standing to bring the suit against Miami.
In Brinkman v. Miami University, the state representative challenged the university's policy that grants domestic partners of Miami employees the same benefits as employees' spouses. Brinkman claimed that the policy violated the 2004 amendment to Ohio's Constitution that defines marriage as the union between a man and a woman and outlaws "legal status for relationships of unmarried individuals that intends to approximate the design, qualities, significance or effect of marriage."
While the ruling has been seen as a victory for Miami, the judge did not make a decision about the policy itself. Rather, Pater ruled that Brinkman's status as an Ohio citizen and taxpayer did not grant him legal standing.
"As a taxpayer Brinkman fails to establish standing in that he is neither a member of a special class which has funded the questioned expenditures, nor has he been damaged individually and concretely," Pater wrote in the decision.
This ruling will allow Miami to continue its current policy, which it has defended as a legal practice that also helps the university compete for employees with other schools that are able to offer benefits to same-sex couples.
According to Claire Wagner, director of Miami's Office of News and Public Information, the university is viewing this ruling as a victory.
"For the immediate purposes, Miami is happy with the decision from the judge," Wagner said. "It means we can continue to offer these benefits to faculty and staff."
However, according to Kathleen Trafford, the special counsel who represented Miami, the dismissal was issued before Pater looked at the merits of the case, and therefore doesn't comment on the constitutionality of Miami's policy.
"The reason the courts look at these issues is because you always want to make sure that when a court decides a case that you have the right parties," Trafford said. "There's a principle in law that says before the court has jurisdiction the parties must be in a real controversy (and both have) a real stake in the outcome."
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While Pater decided that Brinkman did not, he emphasized that this would not eliminate the potential for a future challenge.
"The order should not be construed to suggest that no one can challenge the practice at issue in the court of common pleas," Pater wrote.
This statement, along with language in the decision such as, "Arguably, Brinkman is correct," has led Brinkman and the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), the legal organization that represented him, to make public statements about plans to appeal the decision.
According to Trafford, they have 30 days to make the appeal.
In a press release issued by ADF, Senior Legal Counsel Jeff Shafer said the organization expected this case to be one requiring multiple appeals, and believes that the ruling on Brinkman's standing will be overturned.
ADF maintains that Miami's policy violates Ohio's Constitution, and Shafer said he believes Pater saw the value of this argument.
James Madigan; staff attorney for Lambda Legal, the organization that joined Miami in the suit by representing professors Yvonne Keller and Jean Lynch and their domestic partners; said that if ADF does appeal he will submit a brief in defense of the decision.
"This judge went through the law of standing pretty carefully, so we feel pretty confident that the judge got this right," Madigan said. "So I think an appellate court would understand it's not good to allow anyone with a gripe against gay couples to have standing to file a lawsuit."
Madigan stressed that an important fact to take away from the decision is that it is not legal for someone to challenge a policy like Miami's simply because they disagree with it on principle.
"When gay and lesbian couples have access to health care it doesn't create an injury to a person just because that person doesn't approve of same-sex relationships," Madigan said.
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