Judge to decide if US lawsuit brought by Cambodian victims of trafficking against seafood importers will go to trial
"Judge to rule if US human trafficking lawsuit against Walmart suppliers can proceed", 25 Oct 2016
A civil lawsuit seeking damages caused by alleged human trafficking brought by seven Cambodians against two US and two Thai firms may move forward early next month...The suit, filed in June in a California federal court, accuses the firms, which are suppliers to retail giant Walmart, of knowingly profiting from the villagers' working conditions and violating the US Trafficking Victims Protection Act...[T]he four companies - US-based importers Rubicon Resources and Wales & Co. Universe, and Thai seafood companies Phatthana Seafood Co. Ltd. and S.S. Frozen Food Co. Ltd. – filed a motion in mid-August to dismiss the case on jurisdictional grounds...A hearing is scheduled for November 7, where Judge John Walter will decide whether or not to accept the motion to dismiss which will determine if the case goes to trial or not. The plaintiffs filed a response to the dismissal...arguing that the case should move forward and that the defendants' reasoning was flawed...[T]he plaintiffs said that the defendants' failed to take into account changes that had been made to the Trafficking Victims Protection Act in 2008...