Coombe v. Muse Management, Inc.
Plaintiff Frances Coombe (he/him)
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York
Case No. 1:23-cv-10994-VF
STATUS: ONGOING
Case Information
Plaintiff Frances Coombe began modeling for Muse Management when he was 18 years old and continued to do so with incredible success for over 12 years. For the majority of his time at Muse, Mr. Coombe presented as female and modeled high fashion womenswear. Over two years ago, Mr. Coombe notified Muse of his gender transition and his desire to cease modeling as a woman and begin modeling androgynously and/or as a man. Muse refused and began to discriminate against Mr. Coombe. Mr. Coombe complained about the discriminatory treatment, after which he was constructively terminated.
Mr. Coombe — represented by legendary trans civil rights attorney Jillian Weiss — filed a Complaint in the Southern District of New York alleging discrimination and retaliation under Title VII, the New York State Human Rights Law (NYS-HRL), and the New York City Human Rights Law (NYC-HRL). He also claims lost wages under the New York Labor Law.
Defendants denied all claims. They put forward several affirmative defenses, including an argument that Mr. Coombe’s female presentation was a BFOQ (bona fide occupational qualification). The BFOQ defense is a rarely-granted legal authorization for employers to discriminate on the basis of sex, religion or national origin. Here, Muse Management argues that Mr. Coombe’s presentation as female was so important to its business that they had to harass and constructively terminate Mr. Coombe in order to maintain normal business operations.
Casting suspicion on this argument is the fact that Mr. Coombe is presently working as a successful and sought-after male model at We Speak Model Management, a highly regarded modeling agency in New York City.
The parties are currently in discovery. Updates to follow.