September 25, 2024
Democratic lawmakers urged the en banc Ninth Circuit to rethink a split decision tossing Cambodian workers’ human trafficking suit against a California importer, arguing Congress specifically amended the federal law following another erroneous Ninth Circuit ruling in the case, and the majority’s refusal to apply those amendments retroactively undermines congressional authority.
In a 21-page amicus curiae brief filed Monday, four lawmakers — Reps. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y.; Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill.; James P. McGovern, D-Mass.; and Mark Pocan, D-Wis. — argue that the panel’s 2-1 decision poses a significant challenge to the separation of powers, and the full Ninth Circuit should allow the Abolish Trafficking Reauthorization Act, passed in 2023, to apply retroactively to the workers’ claims against importer Rubicon Resources LLC.
The lawmakers note that following a prior erroneous Ninth Circuit 2022 decision in favor of the importer — in which the appellate court misinterpreted the scope of the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act’s civil liability provision to be narrower than the criminal provisions — the four lawmakers, as well as other members of Congress, “acted immediately to clarify the statute” by unanimously passing ATRA.
The amended law “purposefully used clear language in the statute to indicate its clarifying and technical nature,” but the Ninth Circuit’s 2-1 opinion ignored that language in handing the importer a win for a second time, potentially jeopardizing the “comprehensive TVPRA statutory framework and threaten meritorious forced labor and human trafficking cases,” the lawmakers contend.
“Amici are concerned that the court, in discounting the clear congressional intent expressed in the ATRA, implicates serious questions about the separation of powers and erodes the foundation upon which Congress legislates,” the brief adds.
In light of these “wide-reaching implications,” the lawmakers ask the full Ninth Circuit to grant the workers’ en banc rehearing request.
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The workers’ counsel, Agnieszka M. Fryszman of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC, said Tuesday that the question presented by this case is an important issue that merits en banc review.
“We welcome the support from the congressional amici,” Fryszman said.
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The plaintiffs are represented by Agnieszka M. Fryszman, Nicholas J. Jacques and Madeleine Gates of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC, Dan Stormer of Hadsell Stormer Renick & Dai LLP, Catherine Sweetser of UCLA Law Clinics, and Paul Hoffman and John C. Washington of Schonbrun Seplow Harris Hoffman & Zeldes LLP.
Read Dems Urge Full 9th Circ. to Rethink Worker’s Trafficking Loss.