Rosa Romero Hernandez, Plaintiff v. Samad Attisha; and Yvonne Attisha, Defendants

Samad and Yvonne Attisha (defendants) offered to transport Rosa Romero Hernandez to the United States to work as their babysitter, promising her $7 an hour to work eight hours a day. When Hernandez arrived at the Attishas’ home in 2002, the Attishas seized her passport, forced her to work 15 hours a day providing all their housekeeping and nannying services, forbade her from leaving, hid her from visitors, and made her work off the cost of her transport to the United States. Hernandez worked in these conditions until she was rescued by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials in 2008. The United States Department of Health and Human Services certified Hernandez as a victim of human trafficking under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA). Within two years after her rescue, Hernandez brought claims in federal district court against the Attishas for violations of the involuntary-servitude statutes, emotional distress, and conversion. The Attishas moved to dismiss Hernandez’s claims, claiming the TVPA did not allow private claims for violations of its involuntary-servitude statutes, 18 U.S.C. §§ 1584 and 1590. The Attishas also argued that statutes of limitations barred Hernandez’s claims, claiming that Hernandez’s causes of actions accrued in 2002 when Hernandez arrived in the Attishas’ home. Hernandez responded that the TVPA allowed private actions and provided a 10-year statute of limitations. Hernandez argued that equitable-tolling principles extended the statutes of limitations governing her emotional-distress and conversion claims. Hernandez further argued that her causes of action did not accrue until her rescue in 2008 and that even absent equitable tolling, her claims were not barred by the applicable statutes of limitations.