2024 Civil Litigation Report

The 2024 Data Update analyzes all federal civil trafficking cases filed from 2003 to 2024. In 2024, plaintiffs filed 280 civil trafficking cases, the highest number of trafficking cases filed in any year. Of the 280 cases, 65 alleged forced labor, 209 alleged sex trafficking, and six alleged both. The record number of cases filed in 2024 brought the total number of cases filed under the civil remedy, 18 U.S.C. § 1595, to 1,212. In all, these 1,212 cases resulted in more than $940 million in civil damages and publicly disclosed settlements over the last twenty-one years. The 2024 Data Update analyzes recent litigation trends, as well as broader trends observed since 2003, the year Congress added the civil private right of action to the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act.