Published on: Tuesday, August 19, 2025
In en banc news, the Ninth Circuit will not reconsider its decision approving a $17+ mil jury award for back pay to civil detainees at privately run immigration detention center for violations of Washington State minimum-wage requirements.
A Washington federal court also awarded the state $5.9 million in a connected unjust enrichment suit after finding that GEO Group "benefited from detainee labor both operationally and financially" while paying $1 a day for that labor "as that work fulfilled core services that GEO agreed to perform under its contract with [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] and GEO was paid for."
The case is Nwauzor v. GEO Group Inc., No. 21-36024 (9th Cir. Aug. 13, 2025).