Nepali Trafficking
Practice Area: Human Rights
Cohen Milstein represents the families of 12 men and one surviving laborer who were trafficked from Nepal to Iraq. The men believed they were going to work at hotels in Jordan and elsewhere, but instead were instead taken against their will to work for a US military contractor in Iraq. Unfortunately, the 12 men were captured by insurgents and killed on the way to the US base where they were to work. Their families and the surviving laborer filed suit against the contractors, KBR and Daoud & Partners, in the United States, under a relatively new statute, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, and also brought claims under the Alien Tort Statute and the Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO).
On November 3, 2009, the court in Texas turned aside KBR’s effort to stop the lawsuit. Judge Keith Ellison (S.D. Texas) held that plaintiffs’ claims may go forward. In denying KBR’s motion to dismiss, the Court found that the Trafficking Victim Protect Act applied to this suit; that trafficking and forced labor were violations of international law; and that the RICO violations could be prosecuted extraterritorially. We are pleased that the men will have the opportunity to prove their claims at trial.
This is one of the first cases against a corporation under the new trafficking statute.