Duane Morris Class Action Review - 2023 - Report - Page 239
PAGA causes of action. For these reasons, the court granted in part and denied in part
the defendant’s motion to dismiss.
Another successful preemptive motion to dismiss is Jones, et al. v. Local 798 Of The
United Association Of Journeymen, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 218805 (D. Okla. Dec. 5,
2022). The plaintiff, a welding helper and union member, filed a class action alleging
that the defendant, his union, failed to prevent white union members from discriminating
against him on the basis of his race (Black) and prevented all Black union members
from succeeding in job advancement opportunities in violation of Title VII of the Civil
Rights Act. The defendant filed a motion to dismiss pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6), and the
court granted the motion. The plaintiff contended that when he attempted to advance
from a helper position to a journeyman position, he was denied opportunities for
advancement. The plaintiff asserted that other Black helpers were treated in the same
manner. The plaintiff further contended that other co-workers made racially derogatory
slurs, discriminatory remarks, and that someone hung a noose at a jobsite on which the
plaintiff worked. The plaintiff claimed that he reported these instances to the union and
nothing was done in response to his complaints. The court determined that the plaintiff’s
complaint contained mainly conclusory language of discrimination, such that the
allegations did not add up to a plausible claim that the defendant intentionally
discriminated against the plaintiff based on his race. Id. at *16. The court ruled that
without more of a complete description of the circumstances, it could not infer that the
defendant’s failure to pursue the allegations stemmed from an intent to discriminate. Id.
at *17. As to the plaintiff’s claim for failure to promote, the court found that the plaintiff
failed to plead any facts to support his claim that the defendant intentionally imposed
requirements to bar minorities from advancing to journeyman, that those requirements
were not applied to similarly-situated white comparators, or that the requirements
interfered with the plaintiff’s employment relationship. Id. at *18-19. For these reasons,
the court granted the defendant’s motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim.
B.
Rulings Granting Class Certification On Statutory Claims
Significant class action litigation ensued in 2022 relative to claims under the Victims of
Trafficking and Violence Protection Act (TVPA). A prime example is Owino, et al. v.
Corecivic, Inc., 36 F.4th 839 (9th Cir. 2022). The plaintiffs, a group of incarcerated
individuals in private immigration detention facilities owned and operated by the
defendant, filed a class action alleging that the defendant forced them to perform labor
against their will and without adequate compensation in violation of the TVPA, the
California Trafficking Victims Protection Act (California TVPA), and the California Labor
Code. The district court granted the plaintiffs’ motion for class certification pursuant to
Rule 23. On appeal, the Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court’s ruling. The plaintiffs
asserted that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) contracted with the
defendant to incarcerate detained immigrants in 24 facilities across 11 states. Plaintiffs
claimed that they were detained solely due to immigration status and not because they
were charged with a crime. Pursuant to ICE policy, the Ninth Circuit noted that
detainees “shall not be required to work, except to do personal housekeeping.” Id. at
842. The plaintiffs asserted that the defendant compelled detainees across its facilities
to work “as a virtually free labor force to complete essential work duties at their
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Duane Morris Class Action Review – 2023
