Opinion ID: 420749
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Availability of Damages under Title IX

Text: 22 In Lieberman v. University of Chicago, 660 F.2d 1185 (7th Cir.1981), cert. denied, 456 U.S. 937, 102 S.Ct. 1993, 72 L.Ed.2d 456 (1982), this court was presented with the question whether damages are an available remedy under Title IX. Noting the availability of other remedies, including attorneys' fees, see 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1988, injunctive relief under Title IX, and federal administrative action, see 20 U.S.C. Sec. 1682, and this court's perception that a damage remedy was not entirely consistent with the legislative purpose of Title IX, the Lieberman court held that damages were not an available remedy. 660 F.2d at 1188. Because of that holding, the court expressly declined to consider the appellees' argument that Lieberman had failed to mitigate her damages. Id. at 1188 n. 10. 23 Cannon seeks to distinguish her case from Lieberman on the basis that the failure to mitigate damages, present in Lieberman, is absent here. That argument is unpersuasive as a basis for distinction in light of the Lieberman court's having expressly declined the opportunity to rely on the asserted failure to mitigate. Cannon's other argument in support of her assertion that damages are available under Title IX is premised on a Second Circuit case in which the issue was the availability of damages under Title VI. See Guardians Association of the New York City Police Department, Inc. v. Civil Service Commission, 633 F.2d 232 (2d Cir.1981), cert. granted, 454 U.S. 1140, 102 S.Ct. 997, 71 L.Ed.2d 291 (1982). In light of the clear holding of Lieberman, a case that we decline to reconsider, Cannon's reliance on the analogy to Title VI is misplaced. 24 The district judge was correct in holding that Lieberman precludes any claim for damages based on Title IX.