Case analysis

An unsuccessful attempt to profit can still matter in a forced-labor case

Staff Reports

The Ninth Circuit’s 2026 Ratha decision connects a seafood supply chain, a congressional amendment and the reopening of a judgment.

Source reviewed November 4, 2026

A business does not necessarily escape a civil trafficking claim because its effort to profit failed. That is the practical significance of a 2026 en banc decision in a long-running case involving allegations of forced labor in Thailand’s seafood industry.

In Ratha v. Rubicon Resources, the Ninth Circuit held that Congress’s addition of attempted-benefit language to the federal civil remedy applies retroactively. The court reversed the denial of relief from judgment and sent the case back for further proceedings. The Supreme Court declined review on October 13, 2026.

The workers alleged that Rubicon marketed seafood from factories where they had experienced coercive conditions. An earlier appellate decision had upheld judgment for Rubicon because the company had not actually benefited during the relevant period and the court read the then-existing statute not to reach an attempt to benefit.

Congress changed the text in January 2023. The question became whether that change could affect an already-entered judgment.

More than a wording dispute

The en banc majority concluded that the amendment applied to the earlier conduct and that the circumstances justified reopening the judgment. It considered the amendment’s clarifying label alongside the prior ambiguity, disagreement among courts and the speed of Congress’s response. It did not establish that every law described as a clarification automatically applies retroactively.

The court also addressed participation and knowledge. A company need not operate or manage a venture to participate in it, the majority explained. And the record had to be considered with the favorable inferences required at summary judgment.

Those conclusions revived the workers’ path forward. They did not decide ultimate liability.

Follow the relationship, not only the sale

The case offers a useful way to think about commercial accountability. A completed transaction may be important evidence, but the statutory inquiry can also examine efforts to develop a market, business coordination and knowledge of the venture’s conduct.

That does not make every buyer responsible for every supplier’s abuse. It makes the actual relationship worth examining.

For the Review’s case archive, Ratha also demonstrates why historical decisions need a visible update trail. The older attempted-benefit ruling, the 2023 amendment and the 2026 en banc decision are parts of the same story. Reading only the first chapter would give readers the wrong account of where the law now stands in the Ninth Circuit.