KSLN wins high-profile civil rights case defending school district’s search

Sanchez, et al., v. Binghamton City School District, et al., has been in regional and national headlines since 2019.

A Federal Court of Appeals has awarded another major victory to Kenney Shelton Liptak Nowak LLP, and attorney Shannon T. O’Connor in a Constitutional and civil rights case that has gained national attention. 

The case, Sanchez, et al., v. Binghamton City School District, et al., stems from a 2019 incident at East Middle School in the Binghamton City School District. School employees, concerned that four students may have ingested an intoxicating substance, brought the students to the nurse’s office for investigation. The students alleged that the investigation included an illegal search that violated their 4th Amendment rights, claimed racial discrimination under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

The case quickly gained traction with national media, including The New York Times and the Associated Press. The then-governor of New York State ordered an inquiry, and interest groups rallied the community against the school district.

This publicity raised the stakes for the case and attracted national legal heavyweights on the opposing side. The students were represented by a firm that American Lawyer ranked in the Top 15 nationwide, and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund supported the students’ legal team. 

Despite the formidable opposition, O’Connor was undaunted. She has been on the case since the beginning, serving as lead counsel for the school district, its board of education and all three employees named in the suit.

“The attention this case received underscored the importance of the legal principles at stake," O’Connor said. “Schools must protect the rights of their students while also providing a safe learning environment.”

The original complaint consisted of five causes of action by the minor Plaintiffs against the five Defendants, amounting to 131 claims, which were ultimately reduced to 31 claims on the strategic use of motion practice. Through five years of litigation, O’Connor conducted 21 depositions and analyzed approximately 20,000 pages of discovery. She built a case showing that school officials met the requisite factual basis that school officials needed for “reasonable suspicion” to conduct a search, and that there was evidence that such reasonable suspicion existed. 

Her meticulous work paid off. In August 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld a district court’s finding that the school employees acted properly and no rights were violated. 

In agreeing with the lower court’s decision, the Second Circuit wrote that "no reasonable jury could find that the Defendants lacked sufficient justification to begin searching” the students and "no reasonable jury could find that the challenged searches were excessively intrusive."

With this ruling, the case is closed, though it could still be appealed to the United States Supreme Court.

O’Connor’s successful defense ensures that teachers and principals across the country can provide safe, healthy educational environments through reasonable searches.

“School employees have a responsibility to ensure students are safe, and that’s exactly what my clients were doing,” O’Connor said.

The Binghamton City School District praised the ruling, saying in a statement that “the Second Circuit’s decision on this appeal confirms what BCSD has said from the beginning: that the employees acted lawfully, did not violate the constitutional rights of students, followed district policy, and acted on information to maintain the health, safety, and best interests of their students."

O’Connor is a partner in KSLN’s Syracuse office, focusing on civil litigation defense, including representation of public entities and employees in Section 1983 constitutional litigation, Title VII workplace discrimination claims, and Fair Housing. She represents municipalities, public officials, school districts, private entities, and nonprofit organizations in complex legal matters, including constitutional law, civil-rights litigation, and employment disputes. She earned her law degree from the Syracuse University College of Law.

“Shannon’s work on this case exemplifies our firm’s ethos, taking on difficult cases against well-funded opponents and getting great results for our clients,” said James Nowak, a managing partner at Kenney Shelton Liptak Nowak LLP.

Kenney Shelton Liptak Nowak LLP is a law firm headquartered in Buffalo, N.Y., with attorneys serving clients across New York State. In addition to Constitutional and civil rights law, KSLN’s practice groups cover various forms of civil litigation, business law, and employment law.