Original explainer
Forced labor does not require a locked door
The law asks how work was compelled, including threats aimed at a person’s finances, family, reputation or immigration vulnerability.
Browse the Review
Sex Trafficking
Read the statutes, beneficiary-liability decisions and related business and insurance disputes together.
19 resources
Case analysis
Pennsylvania rejects a blanket insurance bar for trafficking allegations
The state Supreme Court’s Samsung decision separates public policy from the policy language that determines coverage.
Decision:
Original explainer
Start here: how trafficking law fits together
A guide to criminal offenses, civil lawsuits, insurance and the history connecting them.
Statute guide
18 U.S.C. § 1591: Sex trafficking of children or by force, fraud, or coercion
Section 1591 establishes criminal liability for specified conduct involving a person, or knowing benefits from a venture engaging in such conduct, when the statutory force/fraud/coercion or under-18 commercial-sex-act conditions are met. It also sets criminal penalties and defines commercial sex act, coercion, serious harm, and participation in a venture.
Statute guide
18 U.S.C. § 1595: Civil remedy
Section 1595 authorizes victim civil actions against perpetrators and certain knowing or constructive-knowledge beneficiaries, provides damages and reasonable attorneys fees, and establishes a stay and limitations period. It also authorizes specified state-attorney-general parens patriae actions and includes notes identifying several amendments.
Case source
A.G. v. Northbrook Industries, Inc.
The Eleventh Circuit vacated summary judgments on beneficiary claims, explaining what additional evidence can support participation beyond ordinary room rentals and rejecting a specific-victim knowledge requirement.
Decision date:
Case source
G.G. v. Salesforce.com, Inc.
The Seventh Circuit revived a civil claim based on alleged tailored business support for Backpage and rejected dismissal under Section 230 for the claim as pleaded.
Decision date:
Case source
Samsung Fire and Marine Insurance Co. v. RI Settlement Trust
Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court rejected a categorical public-policy bar to defense or indemnity for allegations of enabling or profiting from sex trafficking. Policy-specific coverage remained a separate question.
Decision date:
Research source
The economics of forced labour
The ILO estimates global private-economy forced-labour profits. Its $236 billion figure uses 2021 inputs and is not a U.S. trafficking revenue total.
Report publication date:
article
A hotel trafficking judgment faces a challenge over knowledge and proof
An Arizona hotel trafficking judgment faces a pending reconsideration request. Read what the order decided, what the plaintiff contests and how Northbrook differs.
Published:
article
Why the M.M. hotel-trafficking case stayed in its original court
An Ohio court denied a hotel operator’s transfer request, emphasizing judicial economy and the limits of generalized convenience arguments.
Published:
article
Beyond a room rental: what can reach a jury?
A guide to the Eleventh Circuit’s 2026 Northbrook and Naseeb decision on hotel trafficking claims at summary judgment.
article
What does “participation in a venture” require?
Read the 2021 Red Roof pleading decision alongside its 2026 treatment, with participation, knowledge, and procedural limits explained.
article
When business support becomes the alleged connection
Understand the 2023 Salesforce pleading decision, its limits, and the later civil stay, with public court sources and source references.
article
2017 motel decision: pleading TVPRA claims
A 2017 motel-operator decision explained: alleged conduct, pleading standards, and why surviving dismissal is not a liability finding.
article
Why a civil trafficking case can be put on hold
Why related criminal proceedings can pause civil trafficking litigation: a source-led guide to the A.B. stay and reconsideration orders.
Original explainer
Civil trafficking claims under 18 U.S.C. §1595
An introductory guide to civil trafficking accountability under 18 U.S.C. §1595: elements, evidence, litigation limits, and careful source reading.
Original explainer
Participation is not a business label.
Compare participation-in-a-venture questions across six civil trafficking case studies without treating different courts and postures as interchangeable.
Original explainer
What did the court actually decide?
Read civil trafficking decisions by procedural stage: dismissal, summary judgment, stays, remand, and the limits of what each result establishes.