Civil Claims for Human Trafficking

Who can be sued under Chapter 98, and what can be recovered?

Who can be sued

Section 98.002(a) provides that a defendant “who engages in the trafficking of persons or who intentionally or knowingly benefits from participating in a venture that traffics another person is liable to the person trafficked … for damages arising from the trafficking of that person by the defendant or venture.”

Read that second clause carefully, because it is the heart of the statute. It is not a secondary or derivative theory. It is an independent basis of primary liability, written into the same sentence as the trafficker’s own liability.

A defendant who knowingly benefits from participating in a venture that traffics is liable for damages arising from the trafficking by the defendant or the venture. The beneficiary answers for what the venture did, not only for what the beneficiary personally did.

That is how a hotel, a motel, a landlord, a business or an owner who profited from a trafficking operation on its premises comes within the statute, where the knowledge and benefit can be proven.

A criminal case is not required

Section 98.002(b) is explicit: “It is not a defense to liability under this chapter that a defendant has been acquitted or has not been prosecuted or convicted under Chapter 20A, Penal Code, or has been convicted of a different offense or of a different type or class of offense, for the conduct that is alleged to give rise to liability under this chapter.”

The evidence, though, is still on a timer. Hotel records, bookings and video are overwritten on schedules measured in days and weeks, and a civil claim needs them whether or not a prosecutor ever does. See what evidence actually matters, and what disappears.

No charge, no conviction, an acquittal, or a plea to something else. None of those ends the civil claim.

Owners of the entity

Section 98.0025, added in 2015, reaches shareholders and members of entities governed by Titles 2, 3 or 7 of the Business Organizations Code. It makes a shareholder or member jointly and severally liable where the claimant demonstrates that the shareholder or member caused the entity to be used for the purpose of trafficking that person and did traffic that person for the direct personal benefit of the shareholder or member.

It is a narrow provision with real requirements. Where the facts fit, it removes the corporate form as a shield.

Joint liability for the whole amount

Section 98.005 provides that a person who traffics, or who intentionally or knowingly benefits from participating in a venture that traffics, “and is found liable under this chapter or other law for any amount of damages arising from the trafficking is jointly liable with any other defendant for the entire amount of damages arising from the trafficking.”

The entire amount. Not a proportionate share. And the section reaches defendants found liable “under this chapter or other law,” not only Chapter 98 defendants.

Suing without your name

Section 98.007 gives a claimant in a trafficking action the right to a confidential identity, meaning a pseudonym and the absence of other identifying information such as address, telephone number and social security number. The court must inform the claimant early that this is available, allow its use in all filings, use it in all proceedings and records, and maintain the records so as to protect confidentiality. Divulging the true identity without a written court order is punishable by contempt.

Using it is the claimant’s choice, not a requirement.

The deadline

Chapter 98 contains no limitations period of its own. That surprises people who go looking for one.

The deadline comes from Section 16.0045, and it is offense-based rather than chapter-based. Thirty years where the underlying conduct violates Penal Code Section 20A.02(a)(7)(A), (B), (C), (D) or (H), or Section 20A.02(a)(8), which are the child and disabled-person sexual trafficking provisions. Five years where the conduct violates Section 20A.02 generally.

Because the dividing line is the specific Penal Code subsection proven, there is no single number for a trafficking case. Anyone who gives you one without asking about the facts is guessing.

The claim does not replace your other claims

Section 98.004 provides that the Chapter 98 cause of action is cumulative of any other remedy provided by law. A survivor may have negligence claims, premises claims, or claims under other statutes at the same time.

Primary sources

• Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code ch. 98 (trafficking)
• Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code ch. 16 (limitations)

Every statute and case linked above was read at its primary source. Texas statutes change every legislative session and case law is constantly changing.

This page is general information about Texas law. It is not legal advice about your situation, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.