SRVH contributes over 1100 pro bono hours to successful effort.

On February 27, 2023, a federal judge approved a landmark $1.175 million settlement that concluded a five-year effort to obtain justice and compensation for over 100 Latino workers who were wrongfully detained and mistreated by federal agents in a raid at a Grainger County slaughterhouse. As discussed here, Sherrard Roe Voigt & Harbison attorneys acted as local counsel for the workers, contributing 1100 hours of pro bono legal services in a case involving egregious government misconduct that upended the lives of scores of families in a tight-knit East Tennessee immigrant community.

According to the settlement, the U.S. government will pay $475,000 to be split between six individual class action plaintiffs, each receiving approximately $79,000. Another $550,000 will be paid into a class settlement fund for 100 other wrongfully detained workers, who will receive approximately $5,700 each. In addition to compensation, the workers can request a letter from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that they can include in any applications for immigration relief.

While the approved settlement provided for the payment of attorneys’ fees to counsel representing the workers, SVRH refused to accept any fees so as not to reduce the amount the plaintiffs would receive.