Reversing the district court’s order denying plaintiffs’ motion under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b) for relief from summary judgment in favor of defendant Rubicon Resources, LLC, and remanding for further proceedings in a civil action under 18 U.S.C. § 1595(a), the en banc court held that an amendment to the statute, clarifying that defendants are civilly liable when they attempt to benefit, but do not succeed in benefitting, from human trafficking, has retroactive effect.

Plaintiffs were villagers from rural Cambodia who allegedly were forced to work at seafood factories in Thailand. They alleged that Rubicon marketed in the United States seafood products from those factories, thereby participating in a venture that benefited from human trafficking. The district court entered summary judgment in favor of Rubicon, holding that Rubicon only attempted to benefit from plaintiffs’ forced labor. In “Ratha I,” a three-judge panel of this court agreed, holding that the civil remedy provision of § 1595(a) did not encompass “attempt” liability. Congress subsequently passed the Abolish Trafficking Reauthorization Act of 2022 (“ATRA”), a bill clarifying that defendants are civilly liable when they attempt to benefit, but do not succeed in benefitting, from human trafficking. Plaintiffs moved for relief under Rule 60(b)(6). The district court denied the motion, holding that Congress did not intend for attempt liability to apply retroactively.

Applying the three-step framework of Landgraf v. USI Film Products, 511 U.S. 244 (1994), the en banc court held that Congress intended its clarifying amendment to have retroactive effect. Under Landgraf, the court first reads the statutory text to see whether Congress explicitly included a retroactive effective date. If not, at step two, the court determines whether application of the statute would have retroactive effect. If so, the court applies a presumption against retroactivity.

At step three, the court decides whether the presumption can be overcome by considering all indicia of intent to determine whether Congress made its intention clear that the statute applies retroactively. If so, the statute applies retroactively. To the extent that this court has held in other cases that clarifying amendments to civil statutes fall outside the Landgraf framework, the en banc court overruled those cases as inconsistent with Landgraf. At step one, the en banc court observed that the ATRA contained no explicit retroactive effective date. At step two, the en banc court determined that the ATRA would have retroactive effect and that the presumption against retroactivity applied. At step three, the panel concluded that Congress nevertheless clearly meant for the ATRA to apply retroactively. The panel concluded that four factors, considered together, clearly established the amendment’s retroactivity: (a) Congress expressly stated that its enactment was a technical and “clarifying” update; (b) § 1595(a) was ambiguous before the amendment; (c) Ratha I created a circuit split concerning the interpretation of § 1595(a); and (d) Congress acted swiftly, and with immediate effect, following the court’s decision in Ratha I.

The en banc court held that § 1595’s retroactivity fatally undermined one of the three grounds on which the district court had premised its grant of summary judgment. The en banc court concluded that the two remaining grounds were not sufficient to justify denial of plaintiffs’ Rule 60(b) motion. These grounds were: (1) plaintiffs did not demonstrate that Rubicon knowingly participated in a human trafficking venture; and (2) plaintiffs did not demonstrate that Rubicon knew, or should have known, that human trafficking was occurring at the factory. The en banc court held that the district court erred as a matter of law on the participation element because one can participate in a venture without operating or managing it, and the district court did not view all facts and inferences in favor of plaintiffs. The district court also erred as a matter of law on the knowledge element, and a reasonable jury could have found that Rubicon knew or should have known about the alleged human trafficking. Weighing the relevant factors for relief under Rule 60(b)(6), the en banc court held that plaintiffs were entitled to relief from the district court’s final order.

Judge Callahan dissented, joined by Judge M. Smith except as to Part I.A., by Judge Bade in full, by Judge Bress as to Part I only, and by Judge Johnstone in full. In Part I, Judge Callahan wrote that she agreed with the majority that Landgraf governs the retroactivity analysis, that prior cases that created an exception for clarifying amendments must be overruled, and that ATRA would have retroactive effect and thus the presumption against retroactivity applied. Judge Callahan’s agreement ended there. In Part I.A., she wrote that the four factors cited by the majority did not demonstrate clear congressional intent that the ATRA is retroactive. In Part I.B., Judge Callahan wrote that under a faithful application of Landgraf, the en banc court should decline to give the ATRA retroactive effect because there is no clear indication that Congress intended it to be retroactive. In Part II, Judge Callahan wrote that the majority reached beyond the bounds of this appeal by addressing all of the district court’s reasons for granting summary judgment.

https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2026/02/20/23-55299.pdf