Cases with anonymous plaintiffs are rare but not unheard of when disclosure of the plaintiff’s real identity might lead to reprisal. Indeed, one of the most famous cases in American history—Roe v. Wade—was prosecuted on behalf of the pseudonymous Jane Roe all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. A recent decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, however, sounds a cautionary note for plaintiffs attempting to litigate their claims anonymously.
In Do No Harm v. Pfizer Inc., No. 23-15, 2024 WL 949506, — F.4th — (2d Cir. Mar. 6, 2024), Do No Harm, an advocacy group opposing racial discrimination in healthcare, appealed the dismissal without prejudice of its challenge to a Pfizer fellowship program for persons of African American/Black, Latino/Hispanic, and Native American descent. The trial court had considered Do No Harm’s standing in connection with a motion for preliminary injunctive relief filed concurrently with the complaint, and it found wanting the affidavits of anonymous members that Do No Harm had submitted to support. At issue on appeal was whether the trial court applied the correct legal standard to its standing inquiry—particularly with respect to its conclusion that Do No Harm needed to identify the members supporting its associational standing by name.