Cruz v. Maypa

981 F. Supp. 2d 485, 2013 WL 5561610, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 146624
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Virginia
DecidedOctober 4, 2013
DocketCivil Action No. 1:13-cv-862
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 981 F. Supp. 2d 485 (Cruz v. Maypa) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cruz v. Maypa, 981 F. Supp. 2d 485, 2013 WL 5561610, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 146624 (E.D. Va. 2013).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

CLAUDE M. HILTON, District Judge.

This matter comes before the Court on Defendants’ Nilda J. Maypa, Michelle Barba, and Ferdinand Barba (collectively “Defendants”) Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff Cristina Fernandez Cruz’s (“Ms. Cruz” or “Plaintiff’) First Amended Complaint (“Complaint”). Plaintiff asserts six claims against Defendants to recover damages and restitution for the harms allegedly inflicted upon her by Defendants’ unlawful [487]*487conduct in subjecting Plaintiff to forced labor and involuntary servitude in their homes in Clifton, Virginia and Burke, Virginia between March 2002 and January 17, 2008.

Plaintiff alleges that she spoke to Defendant Nilda J. Maypa (“Ms. Maypa”) in 2001 about moving from the Philippines to the United States to work as a babysitter for Ms. Maypa’s grandchild. On December 14, 2001, Ms. Maypa signed a contract and subsequently faxed it to Ms. Cruz to obtain her signature. Under the terms of this two-year contract, Ms. Cruz was to work 40 hours per week with a full day off on Sunday and be paid at the rate of $6.50 per hour for all working hours, not including overtime pay. The contract further provided that Ms. Cruz would accumulate two paid sick days annually, have access to heavily subsidized medical insurance, and receive paid round-trip travel from the Philippines. Ms. Cruz signed this contract on January 17, 2002.

Through her former employment with the World Bank in Washington D.C., Ms. Maypa secured a G-5 visa into the United States for Ms. Cruz. In March 2002, Ms. Cruz traveled to the United States to commence her employment by Ms. Maypa. Upon arrival at Defendants’ home in Burke, Virginia, Ms. Cruz soon learned that her working and living conditions had been misrepresented. Ms. Cruz alleges that Defendants paid her approximately 50 cents per hour, forced her to work around the clock, and never gave her a day off even through illness and injury. Ms. Cruz also alleges that Defendants seized her passport within hours of her arrival into the United States and never returned it. Plaintiffs Complaint contains additional factual details in support of her allegations that Defendants strategically made use of emotional and psychological coercion to force Ms. Cruz to work as a domestic servant in their homes, subjected Ms. Cruz to sordid living conditions, and ensured that Ms. Cruz remained socially and culturally isolated throughout the six years that she lived with Defendants.

Ms. Cruz signed two additional contracts while working for Defendants. On January 3, 2004, Ms. Maypa executed the first contract extension, which was to have a 15-month term, commencing on January 1, 2004, and expiring on March 31, 2005. This fifteen-month contract provided Ms. Cruz with a higher wage of $6.72 per hour and fully paid medical insurance. Ms. Maypa and Ms. Cruz executed a second contract extension on February 22, 2005, which called for a three-year term, commencing on March 1, 2005 and expiring on February 28, 2008, with the same hours and pay. Ms. Cruz alleges that Ms. May-pa never honored the provisions in any of these three contracts.

On January 17, 2008, Ms. Cruz left Defendants’ residence in Virginia, and commenced this action on July 16, 2013.

Defendants now move to dismiss Plaintiffs Complaint pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). Defendants contend that all of Plaintiffs claims are time-barred by the relevant statutes of limitations. On these grounds, Defendants allege that Plaintiff has failed to state a claim for relief and that the Complaint should therefore be dismissed.

In order to survive a Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss, a complaint must set forth “a claim for relief that is plausible on its face.” Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 547, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007). A claim is facially plausible “when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.” Ashcroft v. Iq[488]*488bal, 556 U.S. 662, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 1949, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009); Twombly, 550 U.S. at 556, 127 S.Ct. 1955. “A pleading that offers labels and conclusions or a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action will not do.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 1949, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009); Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955. A motion to dismiss may raise a statute of limitations defense as a bar to plaintiffs cause of action “if the time bar is apparent on the face of the complaint.” Dean v. Pilgrim’s Pride Corp., 395 F.3d 471, 474 (4th Cir.2005).

Counts I and II of Plaintiffs Complaint allege Forced Labor and Trafficking with respect to Peonage, Slavery, Involuntary Servitude, or Forced Labor in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1589, 1590, and 1595 against all Defendants. Defendants move to dismiss these counts on grounds that they are barred by a four-year statute of limitations. Section 1595 was amended in 2008 to provide an extended 10-year statute of limitations, effective June 20, 2009. Defendants allege that all of the conduct at issue occurred before the 2008 Act was adopted and that Plaintiff is not entitled to the benefit of the 10-year statute of limitations put in place by the 2008 Act after her claims had already accrued.

In response, Plaintiff points to a distinction between expired and unexpired claims, arguing that her claims had not expired under the then-existing four-year statute of limitations at the time the 2008 extension became effective, and that extending the statute of limitations for such an unexpired cause of action does not trigger the presumption of retroactivity.

The presumption against retroactive legislation counsels that “congressional enactments and administrative rules will not be construed to have retroactive effect unless their language requires this result.” Bowen v. Georgetown Univ. Hospital, 488 U.S. 204, 208, 109 S.Ct. 468, 102 L.Ed.2d 493 (1988). Courts should apply the presumption against retroactivity unless Congress has evinced a clear manifestation of its intent to the contrary. See Hughes Aircraft Co. v. United States ex rel. Schumer, 520 U.S. 939, 946, 117 S.Ct. 1871, 138 L.Ed.2d 135 (1997); Baldwin v. City of Greensboro, 714 F.3d 828, 835 (2013). Indeed, the “principle that the legal effect of conduct should ordinarily be assessed under the law that existed when the conduct took place has timeless and universal appeal.” Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corp. v. Bonjorno,

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Cristina Cruz v. Nilda Maypa
773 F.3d 138 (Fourth Circuit, 2014)

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Bluebook (online)
981 F. Supp. 2d 485, 2013 WL 5561610, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 146624, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cruz-v-maypa-vaed-2013.