February 20, 2026
The full Ninth Circuit ruled on Friday that Congress’ 2023 bill clarifying civil liability for companies that “attempt to benefit” from human trafficking retroactively applies to a group of Cambodian workers’ lawsuit against a California importer, overturning a district court’s refusal to vacate the importer’s 2017 summary judgment win.
The en banc panel’s majority opinion by U.S. Circuit Judge Susan P. Graber reversed the California federal court’s decision to uphold Rubicon Resources LLC’s summary judgment win after Congress in 2023 passed the Abolish Trafficking Reauthorization Act, which clarified that defendants are civilly liable under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act “when they attempt to benefit, but do not succeed in benefiting, from human trafficking.”
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On Friday, the en banc majority held that the ATRA “was not simply labeled ‘clarifying’; it actually clarified an ambiguous statute,” noting that the TVPRA had been subject to more than one reasonable interpretation. It also was the subject of a circuit split, with two circuits concluding that civil liability attaches for attempting to benefit from human trafficking and the Ninth Circuit earlier holding the opposite.
In addition, following the workers’ unsuccessful appeals to the Ninth Circuit and Supreme Court, Congress “acted swiftly” to pass the ATRA, “adding the precise words that we had held were missing the statute,” the majority said.
“That timeline strongly suggests that Congress acted to resolve the disagreement between circuit courts and to correct [the 2022 panel’s] error,” it said. “Congress’ speed and its minimal discussion strongly suggest that Congress intended to clarify retroactively what the law already meant, not to make a substantive change in the law.”
The majority held that the district court erred in denying the workers’ bid to overturn Rubicon’s summary judgment win and remanded the case for further proceedings.
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Agnieszka M. Fryszman of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC, representing the workers, told Law360 on Friday,” We are grateful for the Ninth Circuit’s careful review. Our clients’ claims fall within the core protections of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, and they are looking forward to proving their claims at trial.”
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The workers are represented by Agnieszka M. Fryszman, Madeleine Gates, Emily Ray and Nicholas J. Jacques of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC, Paul L. Hoffman, Catherine Sweetser and John C. Washington of Schonbrun Seplow Harris Hoffman & Zeldes LLP and Dan Stormer of Hadsell Stormer Renick & Dai LLP.
Read Full 9th Circ. Revives Trafficking Case Against Calif. Importer.