Doe v. Siddig

• Decision Date: 12 September 2011
• Docket Number: Civil Action No. 10–1256 (CKK).
• Citation: 810 F.Supp.2d 127
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Columbia
• Parties: Jane DOE, Plaintiff, v. Safwat Hassan SIDDIG, and Kawthar Hassan Suliman, a.k.a. Kawthar Siddig, Defendants.

810 F.Supp.2d 127

Jane DOE, Plaintiff,

v.Safwat Hassan SIDDIG, and Kawthar Hassan Suliman, a.k.a. Kawthar Siddig, Defendants.

Civil Action No. 10–1256 (CKK).

United States District Court, District of Columbia.

Sept. 12, 2011.

Martina E. Vandenberg, Jenner & Block LLP, Washington, DC, for Plaintiff.

Alfredo Acin, Law Offices of Lewis and Associates, PC, Falls Church, VA, Thomas F. Urban, Law Firm of Urban & Falk, PLLC, Arlington, VA, for Defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

COLLEEN KOLLAR–KOTELLY, District Judge.

Plaintiff Jane Doe ¹ brings this action against Defendants Safwat Hassan Siddig (“S. Siddig”) and Kawthar Hassan Suliman, a.k.a. Kawthar Siddig, asserting a variety of claims in connection with her nineteen years of employment in Defendants' household as a self-described domestic servant and nanny. Presently before the Court is Defendants' [18] Motion to Dismiss Pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (“Motion to Dismiss”). Upon consideration of the parties' submissions, the relevant authorities, and the record as a whole, the motion shall be GRANTED–IN–PART and DENIED–IN–PART.²

I. BACKGROUND

Doe is a thirty-four-year-old Sudanese citizen living in the United States. Compl. ¶ 10. She claims that Defendants “trafficked” her into the country over two decades ago in order to benefit from her “forced labor” and thereafter subjected her to “false imprisonment” and “involuntary servitude” for the succeeding nineteen years. Id. ¶ 1.

A. Factual Background

In 1990, Doe was a fourteen-year-old minor living with her family in Sudan. ³ Compl. ¶ 12.⁴ She was a primary school student and did not speak English. Id. ¶¶ 12, 31, 43. S. Siddig, an official or employee at the Sudanese Embassy in Washington, D.C., approached Doe and her family with an offer—in exchange for Doe moving to the United States to serve as a domestic servant and nanny in Defendants' household, S. Siddig promised that Doe would be paid the federal statutory minimum wage, would attend school in the United States, would be allowed to return to Sudan to visit her family regularly, and would be “raised like a daughter.” Id. ¶¶ 6, 11, 13. In connection with these promises, S. Siddig drafted and executed a written contract, which provided that Doe would earn the federal statutory minimum wage, with half of her earnings to be paid to her parents in Sudan. Id. ¶ 14.

Thereafter, S. Siddig obtained an A–3 Non–Immigrant Visa ⁵ authorizing Doe to enter the United States. Id. ¶¶ 4, 15–16. In order to secure the visa, Doe's written employment contract was presented to officials at the United States Embassy in Sudan. Id. ¶ 15. According to Doe, S. Siddig or his agents falsely represented Doe's age on her visa and passport applications in order to make her appear as an adult instead of a fourteen-year-old minor. Id. ¶ 16.

In 1990, Doe moved to the United States to serve as a domestic servant and nanny in Defendants' household in Woodbridge, Virginia. Id. ¶¶ 2, 11. For the next nineteen years, Defendants forced Doe to work long hours seven days a week, without holiday-, vacation-, or sick-leave. Id. ¶¶ 2, 17, 19. Her daily responsibilities included cleaning Defendants' home, washing and ironing clothes, cooking meals, and caring for Defendants' four children, including two adult disabled children. Id. ¶¶ 17–19. Doe would also periodically care for the children of Defendants' relatives and guests. Id. ¶¶ 18–19.

In the nineteen-year period extending from 1990 to 2009, Defendants never paid Doe the federal statutory minimum wage for the hours that she worked. Id. ¶¶ 3, 62, 66. Instead, she received $100 per month, approximately $3.33 per day, from 1990 until 1999 or 2000; $150 per month, approximately $5 per day, from 1999 or 2000 until 2006; and $200 per month, approximately $6.66 per day, from 2006 until 2009. Id. ¶ 3. Moreover, Doe was ordinarily paid only half of these amounts; she was told that the remainder was sent to her family in Sudan. Id.

Defendants kept Doe isolated from the outside world. Id. ¶ 28. Upon her arrival in the United States, they confiscated her passport, prohibited her from leaving the house alone, and told her that if she did ever leave the house alone, “she would be kidnapped or arrested.” Id. ¶¶ 28–29, 53. As a fourteen-year-old minor, Doe believed these statements and was scared to leave Defendants' home on her own. Id. Indeed, Doe did not travel outside Defendants' home alone for sixteen years. Id. ¶¶ 28, 36. She did not leave Virginia on her own until 2008, when she was approximately thirty-two years old. Id. ¶¶ 6, 30.

Doe was also isolated from her family in Sudan and the United States. Id. ¶¶ 32–33, 101. Defendants rarely allowed Doe to speak to her family in Sudan and did not tell her when relatives living in the United States attempted to make contact. Id. ¶¶ 32–33. On one occasion, when S. Siddig learned that Doe had made contact with a family member who later moved to the United States, he became angry and attempted to physically strike Doe. Id. ¶ 34.

Despite their prior representations, Defendants attempted to prevent Doe from learning English and did not allow her to attend school until the fall of 2005, approximately fifteen years after she arrived in the United States. Id. ¶¶ 5, 31. In contrast, nearly all of her siblings in Sudan were able to attend college and obtain an appropriate education. Id. ¶¶ 31, 79, 110.

Meanwhile, Defendants constantly subjected Doe to “verbal and psychological abuse,” yelling at her when something went wrong in the house or when she did not meet their demands. Id. ¶¶ 21–23, 35, 99. Her health also suffered. The harsh cleaning chemicals that Defendants forced Doe to use for her housekeeping responsibilities caused her to “develop[ ] breathing difficulties” and burned her skin, resulting in “scars, rashes, and peeling skin that continue to disfigure her hands and feet today.” Id. ¶¶ 20, 25. Additionally, Defendants' adult disabled children physically injured Doe, with one incident resulting in Doe temporarily losing her hearing. Id. ¶ 27. Despite numerous requests, Doe rarely received medical care because Defendants told her that it was too expensive. Id. ¶¶ 24, 26, 116.

On August 7, 2009, Doe “escaped” from Defendants' control with assistance from a relative living in the United States. Id. ¶¶ 34, 37. Since then, Defendants have continued to try to locate Doe, “demand[ing] to know when she will return.” Id. ¶ 38.

B. Procedural History

Doe commenced this action on July 26, 2010. She asserts a total of thirteen claims against Defendants: (1) involuntary servitude pursuant to the Thirteenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States and 18 U.S.C. §§ 1584, 1595; (2) trafficking for purposes of forced labor in violation of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (“TVPA”), 18 U.S.C. §§ 1590, 1595; (3) forced labor in violation of the TVPA, 18 U.S.C. §§ 1589, 1595; (4) breach of contract; (5) failure to pay statutory minimum wages in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), 29 U.S.C. § 201 et seq. ; (6) false imprisonment; (7) fraudulent inducement; (8) unjust enrichment; (9) quantum meruit; (10) intentional infliction of emotional distress; (11) fraud; (12) negligent infliction of emotional distress; and (13) negligence. Compl. ¶¶ 40–125.

The Court held an Initial Scheduling Conference on December 1, 2010, during which the Court set an appropriate briefing schedule for the pending Motion to Dismiss. See Scheduling & Procedures Order (Dec. 1, 2010), ECF No. [13], at 7. Consistent with the schedule set by the Court, Defendants filed their moving papers on January 21, 2011, and Doe filed a timely opposition on February 11, 2011. Defendants failed to file a reply by the designated deadline or at any time thereafter. Accordingly, the motion is fully briefed and ripe for adjudication.

II. LEGAL STANDARD

A complaint must contain “a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief,” Fed.R.Civ.P. (8)(a), “in order to ‘give the defendant fair notice of what the ... claim is and the grounds upon which it rests.’ ” Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007) (quoting Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 47, 78 S.Ct. 99, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957)). When presented with a motion to dismiss on the ground that the complaint “fail[s] to state a claim upon which relief can be granted,” Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6), the district court must accept as true the well- pleaded factual allegations contained in the complaint, Atherton v. D.C. Office of Mayor, 567 F.3d 672, 681 (D.C.Cir.2009), cert. denied, ––– U.S. ––––, 130 S.Ct. 2064, 176 L.Ed.2d 418 (2010). Although “detailed factual allegations” are not necessary to withstand a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim, to provide the “grounds” of “entitle[ment] to relief,” a plaintiff must furnish “more than labels and conclusions” or “a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action.” Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955. “Nor does a complaint suffice if it tenders ‘naked assertion[s]’ devoid of ‘further factual enhancement.’ ” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 1949, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009) (quoting Twombly, 550 U.S. at 557, 127 S.Ct. 1955). Rather, a complaint must contain sufficient factual allegations that, if accepted as true, “state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.” Twombly, 550 U.S. at 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955. “A claim has facial plausibility when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.” Iqbal, 129 S.Ct. at 1949. The plaintiff must provide more than just “a sheer possibility that a defendant has acted unlawfully.” Id. at 1950. When a complaint's well-pleaded facts do not enable a court, “draw[ing] on its judicial experience and common sense,” “to infer more than the mere possibility of misconduct,”...