Pro Bono Innovators 2024 Honoree Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom

In our 2024 edition of Pro Bono Innovators, Bloomberg Law honors Skadden for its April 2023 US Supreme Court win in Reed v. Goertz on behalf of Texas death-row inmate Rodney Reed, who maintained his innocence in a murder case. The decision that has been cited in subsequent cases involving DNA testing. Skadden is also honored for its work with three advocacy groups in securing a January 2024 class settlement on behalf of 23 Filipino workers who filed forced labor and labor trafficking charges against an Oklahoma hospitality group, and other matters.

Your firm’s key matters included securing a US Supreme Court victory on behalf of Texas inmate Rodney Reed, sending the Section 1983 case back to the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit for further proceedings. (The federal appeals court heard arguments on DNA testing and other issues in September. In July, the Supreme Court denied Reed’s petition for a writ of certiorari.) Skadden with ACLU of Oklahoma, Legal Aid at Work, and the Equal Justice Center also helped secure a class settlement on behalf of Filipino workers who said they were promised good jobs and inexpensive housing after paying for visas and travel costs but were instead forced into low-paid, part-time work.

Rodney Reed matter: We strategized to find a clear and persuasive way to present a relatively technical argument about when the statute of limitations begins to run (or accrues) to the Supreme Court, while also defeating three jurisdictional arguments that the district attorney raised. Accrual requires understanding the specific constitutional right at issue—here, a procedural due process right. Mr. Reed’s 42 U.S.C. § 1983 claim challenges as violative of due process the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals’ construction of Texas’ DNA-testing procedures.

Consequently, the deprivation of due process was not complete until the CCA’s construction became final. Once we established that premise, the accrual answer was clear—Mr. Reed’s claim accrued at the end of the state-court proceedings.

The Supreme Court agreed, holding in Reed v. Goertz that “the State’s alleged failure to provide Reed with fundamentally fair process was complete when the state litigation ended and deprived Reed of his asserted liberty interest in DNA testing. Therefore, Reed’s § 1983 claim was complete, and the statute of limitations began to run . . . when the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denied Reed’s motion for rehearing.” But to get to that result, we also had to defeat three jurisdictional arguments from the district attorney and put the case in context for the court—that is, against the backdrop of a mountain of evidence of Mr. Reed’s innocence.

Filipino workers matter: Based on our prior experience with pro bono trafficking cases, we knew that one of the most challenging and dispositive issues for achieving success for our clients would be proving that key aspects of forced labor trafficking claims can be established via class-wide proof. In particular, we needed to establish that whether workers faced a threat of serious harm could be established through a reasonable person standard, rather than requiring individualized proof of each worker’s subjective state of mind.

Throughout the case,from drafting the complaint to discovery, we focused on the best arguments and evidence for demonstrating that all class members were subjected to the same recruitment process and other conditions of employment. Ultimately, US District Judge Scott Palk agreed with our arguments and certified the class, finding that based on evidence of the defendants’ common recruitment scheme, it was appropriate to apply a uniform reasonable person standard, which allowed us to obtain relief for not just our three clients who agreed to serve as named plaintiffs, but for the entire group of workers that had been targeted by the recruitment scheme. This determination was key to our success in securing the $730,000 settlementfor our clients.

What were the most innovative aspects of two or your client matters in your view? And who took the lead on driving innovation with the work?

Rodney Reed matter: The key innovation in Reed was figuring out how to deploy constitutional and jurisdictional arguments to continue seeking DNA testing to help Rodney Reed prove his powerful claim of innocence. Rodney Reed has steadfastly maintained his innocence for nearly a quarter-century, and yet, to this day, the State of Texas refuses to test the murder weapon.

We were able to explain why Texas’s DNA testing procedures violate the due process guarantee and align that challenge with critical jurisdictional arguments and arguments about why Reed’s 42 U.S.C. § 1983 claim for DNA testing is timely. By allying those arguments with extensive evidence of Reed’s innocence, we were able to convince the Supreme Court to take up the question of when the statute of limitations begins to run for a § 1983 claim seeking DNA testing of crime-scene evidence.

We then spearheaded an impressive amicus effort that included nine briefs on topics ranging from evidence of Reed’s innocence to how DNA testing works, and the nature of the due process guarantee. We were able to convince the court to reverse the Fifth Circuit’s decision, which has given Mr. Reed another chance to continue seeking DNA testing that could prove his innocence.

The Skadden team included Parker Rider-Longmaid, Cliff Gardner, Michelle Davis, Nicole DiSalvo, Kyser Blakely, Greg Ranzini, Jeremy Patashnik, Peyton Carper, and Hanaa Khan.

Filipino workers matter: This case did not necessarily fit the common narrow perception of trafficking. Here, recruiters promised workers in the Philippines well-paying jobs in the hospitality industry, free or cheap housing, and reimbursements for their fees and costs. Based on those promises, the workers incurred significant costs to travel to the United States to work for the defendants, including recruitment fees, visa fees, and travel costs.

However, once they arrived in the United States, they learned that they would be receiving unlivable wages without full-time work, and would not be receiving airfare reimbursement and other benefits that had been promised to them, leaving them in a vulnerable position where they could not afford to return home, given the debts they incurred to travel to the United States, and legally could not work elsewhere in the United States. This gave the defendants powerful control over the workers, which was further solidified by threats of physical harm and of deportation.

Our discovery efforts uncovered that this was not merely a miscommunication between an employer and his agents and potential employees, but deliberate misrepresentations by the defendants. Given the false promises and dangerous circumstances our clients endured, we were able to establish that the coercive actions of the defendants were sufficient to find a reasonable fear of serious harm for all of the workers.

The Skadden team included Catherine Fisher, Eben Colby and Alyssa Musante.

Tell us more about the impact of the matters on the local, national, and/or global level.

Rodney Reed matter: The Supreme Court victory has given Mr. Reed and others like him a chance to seek exoneration through DNA testing. An all-white jury convicted Mr. Reed, a Black man, of murdering a white woman. The only evidence tying him to the crime was the sperm found inside the victim.

During 25 years on death row, Mr. Reed has developed voluminous evidence of his innocence. Witnesses have come forward who knew that he and the victim were in a consensual relationship. The victim’s fiancé confessed to the murder. And Texas’ own experts now agree that key forensic testimony the state offered at trial was false.

In cases like Mr. Reed’s, where a capital conviction is in doubt, DNA testing is critical. We have continued to fight for Mr. Reed in remand proceedings before the Fifth Circuit and in a motion before the Fifth Circuit to allow the district court to consider Mr. Reed’s second federal habeas petition.

Together with the Innocence Project, we also recently secured a victory in the Eighth Circuit for a death-row inmate seeking to prove his innocence through DNA testing. And the Supreme Court issued a rare stay of execution of a Texas man seeking DNA testing and relying on the court’s decision in Reed.

Filipino workers matter: At the time that our class certification motion was granted, this case was one of only a handful of trafficking cases where plaintiffs seeking class certification had been successful. Judge Palk’s decision confirmed that central elements of trafficking claims, such as having a reasonable fear of serious imminent harm and the defendants’ abuse of the legal process to compel our clients’ labor, can be established through class-wide proof.

We hope that the outcome in this case contributes to a widespread recognition that trafficking is broader than we may typically think. In hopes of improving their livelihoods, our clients embarked on new opportunities and made real sacrifices to better their financial states, only to be taken advantage of and placed in dangerous situations. Unfortunately, it is unlikely that this is the only labor trafficking case in this country of a similar nature, and our hope is that this result can aid in achieving justice for anyone in a situation similar to the circumstances of our clients.

Why do you think your team ultimately achieved successful results in these two matters?

Rodney Reed matter: Supreme Court and appellate specialists don’t work alone. Together with colleagues in the Supreme Court and Appellate Practice, Parker Rider-Longmaid joined forces with Skadden attorneys in the Wilmington and Houston offices who have been handling parts of Mr. Reed’s fight for justice since 2012. We also collaborated seamlessly with co-counsel at the Innocence Project and other law firms, including the MacRae Law Firm and Squire Patton Boggs, to draw on their wealth of substantive knowledge and prior work on Mr. Reed’s case.

Collaboration on Mr. Reed’s case was both broad and deep. The lawyers who represent Mr. Reed are committed to his cause, and their dedication has been crucial to any success we’ve had. For example, close collaboration was critical in putting together the strongest briefs we could write and preparing for oral argument before the Court. And that work allowed us to develop arguments that convinced the Supreme Court to reverse the Fifth Circuit’s decision and delivered a significant win for Mr. Reed that allows him to continue seeking DNA testing.

But that success was only possible because of the commendable work lawyers at Skadden, the Innocence Project, and other law firms have done for two decades. Those impressive lawyers have fought to develop considerable evidence of Rodney’s innocence, to present it in state and federal court, and to keep Rodney alive in the meantime.

Filipino workers matter: Although the case involved a relatively discrete group of around 20 workers, the litigation quickly grew in complexity, including extensive electronic discovery, coordination with a related trafficking action where we represented another group of defendants’ workers, and insurance coverage litigation, which made it important to have the resources and complex litigation expertise of a large firm like Skadden.

At the same time, we were able to rely on our co-counsel’s technical expertise in trafficking litigation and their understanding of the very human challenges our clients and other trafficking victims face. Key to our success was being able to bring to bear our experience with discovery in complex litigation, including a successful motion for discovery sanctions resulting in further court-ordered document discovery and depositions of the defendants. The extensive discovery we were able to obtain is where we ultimately confirmed that central elements of trafficking claims could be established through class-wide proof. We are grateful that, in partnership with our co-counsel, we were able to secure this outcome for our clients.

Responses provided by Parker Rider-Longmaid, Supreme Court and Appellate Litigation partner for the Rodney Reed matter.

Responses provided by Catherine Fisher and Eben Colby, Litigation associate and Litigation partner for the Filipino workers matter.