This entry is a combination of two cases (Owino v. CoreCivic, Inc. and Gonzalez v. CoreCivic, Inc.), which have been effectively combined into one class action.

Owino was filed by former immigration detainees on May 31, 2017 as a putative class action in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California. The plaintiffs sued CoreCivic, Inc. under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) and state law. The plaintiffs, represented by private counsel, sought declaratory, injunctive, and monetary relief. The plaintiffs alleged that CoreCivic had a practice of paying detainees at the Otay Mesa Detention Center only one dollar a day if they volunteered to perform certain jobs and services. The plaintiffs also alleged that, in other instances, CoreCivic forced detainees to perform various forms of manual labor for no compensation at all.

The defendant moved to dismiss the complaint on August 11, 2017. The defendant alleged that the plaintiff had failed to state a claim under the TVPA for which relief could be granted, and alleged that the plaintiff’s state law claims were preempted by federal law. Pending resolution of a motion to consolidate Gonzalez with Owino, the judge stayed proceedings on February 16, 2018 and deferred ruling on the defendant’s motion to dismiss.

In Gonzalez, immigration detainees sued CoreCivic on December 27, 2017 under the TVPA and state law, alleging substantially the same facts as the plaintiffs in Owino. The plaintiffs, represented by Al Otro Lado and private counsel, sought declaratory, injunctive, and monetary relief. On January 22, 2018, the plaintiffs moved to consolidate the two cases due to legal and factual similarities between them. On February 23, 2018, the plaintiffs in Owino moved to intervene in order to oppose consolidation. The court granted the motion to intervene. On April 4, 2018, the court denied the Gonzalez plaintiffs’ motion to consolidate and stayed the case on grounds that the facts were duplicative of those alleged in Owino. Over a year later, the case is presumably still ongoing pending resolution in Owino.

On May 14, 2018, the judge in Owino lifted the stay and denied the defendant’s motion to dismiss in part, and granted it in part. The plaintiffs’ TVPA claim remained largely intact, and was dismissed only to the extent that it alleged violations of a particular amendment to the TVPA that occurred prior to the amendment’s enactment in December 2008.

While the parties litigated various discovery issues, the plaintiffs filed a First Amended Complaint on October 12, 2018, asserting additional claims of negligence and unjust enrichment against CoreCivic. On April 15, 2019, the plaintiff's requested to certify a class.

On June 5, 2019, the plaintiffs moved for partial summary judgment on its claims under the California Labor Code. But on July 11, 2019, the defendants moved for judgment on the pleadings.

On April 1, 2020, Judge Janis Sammartino issued an order denying the plaintiffs' motion for partial summary judgment, denying the defendant's motion for judgment on the pleadings, and granting in part the motion for class certification. Judge Sammartino concluded that summary judgment in favor of the plaintiffs was inappropriate because class certification had not yet been granting and "the one-way intervention rule typically precludes a court from ruling on a merits-based motion before the class is certified and notified." Furthermore, Judge Sammartino denied the defendant's motion for judgment on the pleadings because defendant failed to assert its personal jurisdiction defense in its first responsive pleadings, thus waiving the right to that defense.

Judge Sammartino granted certification to three classes: (1) The California Forced Labor Class, comprised of ICE detainees who were detained at a CoreCivic facility located in California after January 1, 2006 and cleaned areas of the facilities above and beyond personal housekeeping standards and performed such work under threat of discipline irrespective of whether the work was paid or unpaid; (2) The National Forced Labor Class, comprised of ICE detainees in CoreCivic facilities after December 23, 2008 who cleaned areas of the facilities above and beyond personal housekeeping standards and performed such work under threat of discipline irrespective of whether the work was paid or unpaid; and (3) The California Labor Law Class, "comprised of '[a]ll ICE detainees who (i) were detained at a CoreCivic facility located in California between May 31, 2013 and the present, and (ii) worked through CoreCivic's Voluntary Work Program during their period of detention in California." 2020 WL 1550218.

The parties are to provide a joint status report by April 15. The case is ongoing.

Peter Harding - 10/11/2019
Aaron Gurley - 04/08/2020


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