Signal International LLC filed for chapter 11 protection yesterday to deal with lawsuits accusing it of labor trafficking involving citizens of India recruited to work in the U.S., the Wall Street Journal reported today. A Gulf Coast marine services operator, the company was hit earlier this year with a $14 million damages award in a case brought by five people who said they paid $10,000 to $20,000 for jobs they were told would turn into permanent residency in the U.S. Instead, they were forced to live in guarded labor camps under allegedly poor conditions, according to the suits they brought. A jury found for the Indian citizens, and in May a federal court entered judgment against Signal. Trial was supposed to start July 20 in the next case, but the bankruptcy filing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., halts continued litigation. Signals said that it is trying to implement a deal in chapter 11 that will resolve the litigation and save its business. Signal faces 11 similar lawsuits involving 227 people recruited from India under allegedly illegal conditions, lured by alleged false promises to work as welders, pipe fitters and in other positions under the U.S. government’s H-2B guest worker program.
