Opinion ID: 6346803
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Class-wide Policy of Forced Labor

Text: We first consider CoreCivic’s assertion that Owino failed to present “[s]ignificant proof” of a class-wide policy of forced labor, thus defeating commonality. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes, 564 U.S. 338, 353 (2011). To support the California Forced Labor class, Owino provided the declarations of four detainees, all from one facility, but this was not the extent or the focus of Owino’s “significant proof,” nor was it the focus of the district court’s decision. OWINO V. CORECIVIC 11 Rather, Owino centered his argument, and the district court centered its holding, on the text of CoreCivic’s corporate policies. The sanitation policy requires detainees to remove trash, wash windows, sweep and mop, “thoroughly” scrub toilet bowls, sinks, and showers, and undertake sundry other cleaning responsibilities across the facility. On their face, these policies appear to go beyond those minimal tidying responsibilities laid out in the ICE Standards. The discipline policy further makes clear that detainees are subject to a range of punishments, including disciplinary segregation, for refusal to “clean assigned living area” or “obey a staff member/officer’s order.” The persuasive weight of the text of these policies is augmented by the statements of ICE detainees themselves, who declared that they were in fact required to clean common areas—without payment and under threat of punishment—in line with the policies. Further, one of CoreCivic’s own senior managers testified that CoreCivic facilities do not have the ability to opt out of these companywide, “standard policies.” Commonality is necessarily established where there is a class-wide policy to which all class members are subjected. Parsons v. Ryan, 754 F.3d 657, 678 (9th Cir. 2014). And while “the mere existence of a facially defective written policy—without any evidence that it was implemented in an unlawful manner—does not constitute ‘[s]ignificant proof’ that a class of employees were [sic] subject to an unlawful practice,” Davidson v. O’Reilly Auto Enters., LLC, 968 F.3d 955, 968 (9th Cir. 2020) (internal citation omitted), Owino relied on the written policies as well as the testimony of former ICE detainees and CoreCivic’s own manager. Although the company “may wish to distance itself from [its employee’s] statements,” here the “admissions were 12 OWINO V. CORECIVIC material and [are] properly before us.” Abdullah v. U.S. Sec. Assocs., 731 F.3d 952, 966 (9th Cir. 2013). In view of the highly deferential abuse of discretion standard and the full scope of evidence in the record, we reject CoreCivic’s claim that Owino failed to provide “significant proof” of the class-wide policy necessary to satisfy the commonality requirement.