Better together? The peril and promise of aggregate litigation for trafficked workers

Author: Price, Nikko

Abstract: This Note proposes a new litigation strategy for vindicating the rights of trafficked workers. It argues that class actions, an increasingly popular mechanism for holding traffickers liable, are insufficient. Through an original analysis of federal class actions predicated on the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA), I show that courts are reluctant to certify classes of trafficked workers and that class actions too often fail. As an alternative to class actions, this Note suggests that state attorneys general invoke their common-law parens patriae power to bring suits against traffickers under the TVPA. This strategy would preserve many benefits of the aggregate-litigation model while sidestepping the challenging procedural terrain of the modern class action.

Keywords: human trafficking, Trafficking Victims Protection Act, class action, common-law parens patriae