Wyoming Lawyer Not Liable For Embarrassing Claims In Trans Sorority Member Lawsuit

A Wyoming attorney who tried getting a court to void the membership of the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority’s first transgender inductee in 2023 was found not liable Friday, after the sorority member accused him of launching personal and embarrassing claims into the public court file. John Knepper declined “for now” to comment after hearing the news that he is not liable for the more controversial claims he and another attorney, Cassie Craven, included in their 2023 lawsuit against the sorority and its transgender inductee, Artemis Langford.

Rachel Berkness of Freeburg Law, who represented Langford, told Cowboy State Daily that even though the plaintiff did not win a favorable verdict, the conduct prompting the complaint was still wrong. “I am incredibly proud of Artemis Langford for standing up for herself against her biggest bullies,” Berkness wrote. “The jury agreed that what happened to her was wrong. They were just unable to determine whether it was legally permissible. Artemis is a brave woman and I am forever proud of her.”

The case involves two lawsuits. Langford was inducted into the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority via its University of Wyoming chapter in the autumn semester of 2022. A group of seven women sued the sorority in federal court in spring 2023, alleging the sorority misled them and strong-armed members into admitting Langford. Their claims included statements about Langford’s height and size, and an alleged incident involving signs of male arousal at a sorority event. Langford’s counsel rebutted that claim with evidence that the story was only drunken gossip. In August 2023, U.S. District Court Judge Alan B. Johnson dismissed the case, saying it is not for the court to determine the definition of “woman” for a private group like a sorority, and that private groups can dictate their own membership terms based on established First Amendment law.

Langford filed a new lawsuit against Knepper and Craven in state court on March 25, 2024. Langford’s filing accused the attorneys of divulging irrelevant facts to garner media attention and raise money. The petition stated that the attorneys “mocked Ms. Langford’s physical appearance, made jabs about her GPA and attempted to paint Ms. Langford as a sexual deviant who had joined a transgender-friendly sorority simply to gain access to women.” Langford also disputed the attorneys’ decision to unseal her name, though she had gone public as the first openly transgender member of the sorority as early as 2022 in UW’s student newspaper.

Knepper’s attorney successfully petitioned to pare the claims down from four to two. Craven opted to settle with Langford around late March; the terms have not been made public. Knepper’s case went to trial starting Monday. In their October 2024 answer to Langford’s claims, Knepper and Craven argued they did not owe a duty of care to Langford, that Langford had not suffered actual damages, and that her claims were barred by litigation privilege—the immunity lawyers have to make pleadings as part of representing their clients. Judge Johnson had also written when dismissing the first lawsuit that allegations about Langford’s behavior had “no bearing on the women’s legal claims” and were “unbefitting in federal court.”