Court Opinion

ID: 9941753
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-02-16 21:01:19.325412+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:46:59.650710
License: Public Domain

USCA4 Appeal: 22-2113      Doc: 53        Filed: 02/15/2024    Pg: 1 of 3

                                            UNPUBLISHED

                              UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                                  FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

                                              No. 22-2113

        TATIANA CUENCA-VIDARTE; SANDRA PETERS,

                            Plaintiffs - Appellants,

                     v.

        MICHAELE C. SAMUEL; ADAM ISHAEIK,

                            Defendants - Appellees,

                     and

        AUPAIRCARE INC.; INTERNATIONAL TRAINING AND EXCHANGE, INC.,
        d/b/a Intrax, d/b/a AuPairCare; JOHN F. WILHELM; TAKESHI YOKOTA,

                            Defendants.

        Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, at Greenbelt.
        George Jarrod Hazel, District Judge. (8:20-cv-01885-GJH)

        Submitted: January 8, 2024                                 Decided: February 15, 2024

        Before AGEE and RUSHING, Circuit Judges, and KEENAN, Senior Circuit Judge.

        Affirmed in part, vacated in part, and remanded by unpublished per curiam opinion.

        ON BRIEF: Christopher Roderick Ryon, Owen Cahill Bement, KAHN SMITH &
        COLLINS, P.A., Baltimore, Maryland; Benjamin Richard Botts, CENTRO DE LOS
USCA4 Appeal: 22-2113      Doc: 53         Filed: 02/15/2024    Pg: 2 of 3

        DERECHOS DEL MIGRANTE, INC., Baltimore, Maryland, for Appellants. Gabriel J.
        Christian, Tanitoluwa I. Odubiyi, THE LAW OFFICES OF GABRIEL J. CHRISTIAN &
        ASSOCIATES, LLC, Bowie, Maryland, for Appellees.

        Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

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USCA4 Appeal: 22-2113      Doc: 53         Filed: 02/15/2024      Pg: 3 of 3

        PER CURIAM:

               Plaintiffs Tatiana Cuenca-Vidarte and Sandra Peters (“Plaintiffs”) appeal the district

        court’s order granting Defendants’ motion to compel arbitration and granting, without

        prejudice, Defendants’ motion to dismiss Plaintiffs’ claims of forced labor, brought

        pursuant to the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1595

        (“TVPRA”), and Plaintiffs’ claims for breach of contract and violations of federal and state

        wage and hour laws. On appeal, Plaintiffs challenge only the district court’s dismissal of

        their TVPRA claims, which the court dismissed because they implicated a settlement

        agreement in Beltran v. InterExchange, Inc., No. 14-cv-03074 (D. Colo.) (“the Beltran

        Action”) and the District Court for the District of Colorado (“the Colorado District Court”)

        retained continuing and exclusive jurisdiction to interpret and construe that agreement.

               The Colorado District Court subsequently granted Plaintiffs’ motion to interpret the

        settlement agreement in the Beltran Action as it relates to their TVPRA claims. Beltran,

        PACER No. 1258. As the Colorado District Court has since clarified that Plaintiffs’

        TVPRA claims against their host family are excepted from the settlement agreement in the

        Beltran Action, Beltran, PACER No. 1258 at 27-33, we vacate the district court’s order, in

        part, and remand for further proceedings on the TVPRA claims against Michaele C. Samuel

        and Adam Ishaeik. We affirm the remainder of the district court’s order. Cuenca-Vidarte

        v. Samuel, No. 8:20-cv-01885-GJH (D. Md. Sept. 30, 2022). We dispense with oral

        argument because the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in the materials

        before this court and argument would not aid the decisional process.

                                  AFFIRMED IN PART, VACATED IN PART, AND REMANDED

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