A.G. v. Northbrook Industries, Inc.
Split Score
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Case Summary
Disposition
Vacated
The Eleventh Circuit vacated the district court’s grants of summary judgment against three minor sex-trafficking victims, holding that the plaintiffs produced enough evidence for a jury to decide their TVPRA §1595 beneficiary claims and related negligence counts. In doing so, the court reaffirmed its Red Roof standard that §1595’s “participation in a venture” requires shared risks and profits and expressly acknowledged a multi-circuit split over that definition.
Circuit Split Identified
Legal Issue
Proper definition of “participation in a venture” for civil beneficiary claims under 18 U.S.C. §1595(a).
Circuit Positions
Participation requires taking part in a common undertaking or enterprise involving shared risks and potential profits; mere arm’s-length services (e.g., renting a room) are insufficient.
Participation is satisfied if the defendant is associated in fact with two or more persons engaged in trafficking (importing §1591 definition).
Participation requires only a desire to promote or facilitate the trafficking venture; uses §1591 as an upper limit but imposes minimal additional requirements.
Conflict Summary
The Eleventh and D.C. Circuits require proof that the defendant took part in a common undertaking involving shared risks and potential profits with the trafficker, whereas the First and Tenth Circuits import §1591’s looser definition of a venture (any association-in-fact of two or more persons), and the Seventh Circuit adopts an even less demanding standard requiring only a desire to promote the venture’s success.