Cambodian Seafood Workers Ask Ninth Circuit to Revive Trafficking Suit

An attorney for seven Cambodian villagers forced to work in the Thai seafood industry told a Ninth Circuit panel Friday that all partners in the venture knew or should have known about the practice and therefore violated federal laws against human trafficking. The rural villagers, including lead plaintiffs Keo Ratha and Sophea Bun, said in their 2016 federal lawsuit that four U.S. and Thai companies forced them to work under conditions that violate the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, or TVPA.