News Item

Transexuals Win Suit vs Toys R Us

Oct 30, 2002

A judge has ordered Toys "R" Us to pay nearly $200,000 in attorneys' fees for three transsexuals who claimed they were harassed by workers while shopping at a Brooklyn store.

A jury in June found that the plaintiffs were harassed but awarded them only $1 each. Donna McGrath, Tanya Jinks and Tara Lopez had each sought $300,000 in damages.

In a 12-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Charles Sifton labeled the lawsuit "the first case in which the rights of transsexuals were asserted and vindicated."

Awarding $193,551 in fees will "encourage the bringing of meritorious civil rights claims which might otherwise be abandoned because of financial imperatives surrounding the hiring of competent counsel," the judge wrote.

An attorney for Toy "R" Us, Nicholas Goodman, said the retailer would appeal on the grounds that "the judge abused his discretion."

The transsexuals alleged that during two shopping excursions at a Toys "R" Us store in December 2000, employees called them names and menaced them with baseball bats because of their lifestyle.

Toys "R" Us is based in Paramus, N.J.