Law360 (October 21, 2026, 8:55 PM EDT) -- A 12-year-old class action by former detainees of a Colorado immigration detention facility alleging private prison operator The GEO Group Inc. unlawfully profited from their forced labor will have a split trial and begin Nov. 2, as scheduled, a Colorado federal judge ruled.

U.S. District Judge John Kane on Tuesday granted GEO's motion to bifurcate the trial, ruling that the jury will first decide liability, compensatory damages and entitlement to punitive damages before hearing evidence specific to calculating punitive damages for the former detainees' forced labor claim.

The judge also denied three motions by the prison operator that asked the court to again allow the case to be heard by the Tenth Circuit on an interlocutory appeal, decide the case on summary judgment or judgment on the pleadings, and stay the case.

The three motions "are a continuation of GEO's efforts to delay a hearing of the merits in this case, as not one of the motions is sufficiently supported by the law or the facts to warrant the relief requested," Judge Kane said in a separate order Tuesday.

Judge Kane said conducting the trial in two phases in front of the same jury will allow jurors to consider relevant evidence "without subjecting GEO to unfair prejudice."

"Evidence of GEO's global profits and overall resources is inadmissible for determining liability and compensatory damages because its negligible probative value for either of plaintiffs' claims is substantially outweighed by its potential for prejudice," Judge Kane said in the order splitting the trial.

The court said splitting the trial is superior to providing a limiting instruction on proper consideration of the evidence of GEO's profits and wealth. A limiting instruction risks confusing the jury because the evidence pertains to some of the damages allowed on the former detainees' forced labor claim, but not all of them, Judge Kane said.

The case, filed in 2014, claims the GEO-operated Aurora Detention Facility in Colorado violated the Trafficking Victims Protection Act by ordering immigration detainees to clean the facility for free, while others earned just $1 per day in a voluntary work program, at the unjust enrichment of GEO. The detainees seek disgorgement on their unjust enrichment claim, along with compensatory and punitive damages under the TVPA.

The long-running lawsuit has a complicated procedural history that includes multiple interlocutory appeals by GEO to the Tenth Circuit and a February U.S. Supreme Court decision affirming the Tenth Circuit's denial of GEO's immunity claim.

Judge Kane ruled Tuesday on numerous pretrial motions by the parties that sought to exclude certain evidence.

The court held GEO cannot argue that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement directed GEO's cleaning policies or that ICE approved GEO's payment of $1 per day to voluntary work program participants. GEO cannot reference the former detainees' specific criminal histories or prior incarcerations because such facts are not relevant, Judge Kane ruled. The court also said the parties should generally refer to individual class members as a "noncitizen," as opposed to terms such as "illegal" or "illegal alien."

Among other rulings on the parties' motions to exclude certain evidence from trial, Judge Kane also granted GEO's motion in limine to preclude the introduction of any evidence concerning the prison operator's litigation expenses, agreeing with GEO that its legal expenses are not relevant to any of the class's claims.

Counsel for the class and GEO declined to comment Wednesday.

In a minute order Wednesday, Judge Kane said the parties' witness and exhibits lists and related pretrial filings, which run of hundreds of pages, "represent a clear violation of the parties' obligations under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 1" to aid in "the just, speedy and inexpensive determination" of the case.

"I have serious doubts about whether the parties' present strategies will allow the coherent and successful presentation of this case to a jury," Judge Kane said. "It is apparent to me that the parties' two to three week estimate for the trial is fantastical."

Judge Kane directed the parties to revise the unified exhibit list and joint submission of deposition designations and resubmit the documents in accordance with the court's rulings by noon Thursday.

The class of former detainees is represented by Alexander Hood, Rachel Dempsey, Brianne Power, Juno Turner, David Seligman and Toree Lindblad of Towards Justice, Adam Koshkin, Aaron B. Lee and Michael Scimone of Outten & Golden LLP, Hans Meyer of The Meyer Law Office, and Andrew Turner and Brandt Milstein of Milstein Turner PLLC.

The GEO Group is represented by Naomi G. Beer, David G. Palmer, Dominic E. Draye and Nicholas LeFevre of Greenberg Traurig LLP, Dana Eismeier, Michael Ley and Adrienne Scheffey of Jennings Haug Keleher McLeod Waterfall LLP, and James N. Boeving, Carolyn J. Fairless, William D. Hauptman, Shiloh A. Rainwater and Frederick R. Yarger of Wheeler Trigg O'Donnell LLP.

The case is Alejandro Menocal et al. v. The GEO Group Inc., case number 1:14-cv-02887, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado.

--Editing by Lakshna Mehta. 

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