World Cup Lawsuit: Olson and Howard Ruling, Appeal, and Discovery

The Qatar World Cup forced labor lawsuit is a federal case in Colorado in which Filipino construction workers accuse Jacobs Engineering Group and CH2M Hill entities of knowingly benefiting from trafficked and forced labor used to build stadiums for the 2022 tournament. Filed in October 2023 under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA), the case survived a motion to dismiss in June 2025 on its core forced labor claims and, as of mid-2026, is moving through discovery alongside a second, related lawsuit filed by additional workers.

What the Workers Allege

The lead case, F.C., et al. v. Jacobs Solutions Inc., et al. (No. 1:23-cv-02660), was filed on October 12, 2023, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado by 38 Filipino workers identified by initials.¹ They sued Jacobs Solutions Inc., Jacobs Engineering Group Inc., CH2M Hill Companies Ltd., CH2M Hill International Ltd., and CH2M HILL International BV.²

According to the complaint, recruiters lured the workers to Qatar with misrepresentations about the terms of their employment. Once they arrived, employers confiscated their passports, blocking any exit from the country. The plaintiffs say they were forced to work punishing hours, with some shifts running up to 72 hours straight, while being housed in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions and denied proper wages. The complaint alleges the defendant companies knowingly benefited from this forced labor to the tune of $50 million.²

The claims rest on the TVPRA, which allows victims of forced labor and trafficking to sue in U.S. courts, and in certain circumstances reaches conduct that occurred abroad.³ The workers seek damages for forced labor and restitution of unpaid wages.⁴

Who the Defendants Are

CH2M Hill was selected by a Qatari government committee to serve as program manager for the construction of stadiums and sporting facilities for the 2022 tournament. Qatar planned to spend roughly $4 billion, including nine new stadiums and upgrades to three existing ones.⁵ CH2M Hill’s role included direct responsibility for stadium construction and coordination with government agencies on the broader infrastructure program.⁶

Jacobs Engineering Group acquired CH2M in 2017, inheriting its World Cup work.⁴ The plaintiffs allege the various entities functioned as a single integrated operation they call “One Jacobs,” which managed and audited the projects from 2012 through 2021.⁷

The construction took place under Qatar’s kafala sponsorship system, which binds migrant workers to a specific employer-sponsor who controls their immigration status. Qatar enacted reforms in 2020 that officially abolished exit-permit requirements and restrictions on changing employers, but international organizations and media outlets documented ongoing abuses, including passport confiscation and dangerous working conditions.⁸

The June 2025 Ruling

On June 26, 2025, U.S. Magistrate Judge Cyrus Y. Chung issued a 46-page opinion that gave the plaintiffs their first major win and narrowed the case at the same time.⁴

Judge Chung allowed the core forced labor claims to proceed, finding that the plaintiffs had adequately alleged the defendant companies participated in a venture that harmed them through forced labor, and that the companies knew or recklessly disregarded the abuses, a conclusion supported by “numerous media reports” about conditions at the construction sites.² He also held that the TVPRA’s private right of action has extraterritorial reach, rejecting the argument that U.S. law could not protect Filipino workers laboring in Qatar.⁹

The court dismissed the human trafficking claims. Because the complaint alleged that “Qatari employers in Qatar” were the direct traffickers, and those employers lacked U.S. nationality or presence, the trafficking provisions could not reach them extraterritorially.³ The court also dismissed claims against Jacobs Solutions Inc. and CH2M HILL International BV for lack of personal jurisdiction, and threw out additional claims including negligence and unjust enrichment.⁴ The remaining defendants are Jacobs Engineering Group, CH2M Hill Companies, and CH2M Hill International.²

March 2026: No Immediate Appeal

The defendants asked U.S. District Judge Regina M. Rodriguez, to whom the case had been reassigned, to certify an immediate appeal of the extraterritoriality ruling. On March 20, 2026, Judge Rodriguez denied the request, finding no “substantial ground for difference of opinion” on whether the TVPRA reaches the defendants’ conduct. She noted that an interlocutory appeal would likely “prolong the matter, which has already been pending for two-and-a-half years.”¹⁰

What the Defendants Say

The Jacobs and CH2M entities have maintained throughout the litigation that the claims are baseless. Justin Rassi of Debevoise & Plimpton, which represents the defendants alongside Wheeler Trigg O’Donnell, stated after the June 2025 ruling: “Our position remains the same as it has been from the start: the claims underlying this entire matter are without merit, and we are confident that we will ultimately prevail.”⁴

In their motion to dismiss, the defendants invoked the presumption against extraterritoriality, argued the workers lacked standing because the alleged forced labor was caused by independent third-party contractors in Qatar rather than the defendants, and challenged personal jurisdiction, saying the connection between the lawsuit and Colorado was speculative and that exercising jurisdiction over events in Qatar would be unreasonable.¹¹

A Second Lawsuit and the Current Discovery Phase

On January 27, 2025, a second group of 40 Filipino workers filed a related complaint, Al.C., et al. v. Jacobs Solutions Inc., et al. (No. 1:25-cv-00274), in the same court.¹² The second complaint contains similar allegations but adds new detail, including an on-the-record interview in which a CH2M manager reportedly joked about worker deaths: “I am half expecting bodies to land next to me every time I go past.”⁷ Both cases have been assigned to Judge Rodriguez and Magistrate Judge Chung.¹⁰

Together, the two lawsuits involve roughly 78 named plaintiffs, with the plaintiffs’ legal team reporting representation of roughly 100 Filipino workers overall.¹³¹⁴¹⁵

As of mid-2026, the case is in active discovery, with a discovery hearing scheduled for June 23, 2026, before Magistrate Judge Chung to address disputes including contested deposition notices.¹⁶ The court has limited each side to 25 requests for production of documents and denied the defendants’ request to expand that number, finding they had not been diligent in managing their allotted discovery.¹⁷ No trial date has been set.

Related Cases Against Other Companies

The Colorado cases are not the only legal fallout from the World Cup construction program. In a separate action filed in the Delaware Court of Chancery in 2024, a UK pension fund sued members of the Jacobs Solutions board of directors, alleging they failed their duty to monitor worker safety despite “ample notice” of trafficking, abusive conditions, and other human rights violations tied to the Qatar projects. The complaint asserted that information about these conditions was “public knowledge.”¹⁸

A separate group of over 100 construction workers also filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against public relations firms Omnicom Group Inc., Ogilvy Group LLC, and Portland PR Ltd., alleging those companies helped cover up abusive labor conditions through “sportswashing” campaigns on behalf of the Qatari government. On February 24, 2026, Judge Jesse Furman trimmed that case, dismissing human trafficking and some other claims but allowing federal forced labor allegations to proceed against certain defendants.¹⁹

A Note on Firm Names

The Denver firm representing the workers is Olson Grimsley Kawanabe Hinchcliff & Murray LLC. A separately named firm, Olson & Howard, PC, operates in Traverse City, Michigan, in environmental, land use, and natural resources law and has no involvement in the Qatar World Cup litigation.²⁰

1
QatarCase.com. Jacobs Press Release
2
Bloomberg Law. Qatar World Cup Stadium Workers Advance US Forced Labor Lawsuit
3
Business & Human Rights Resource Centre. USA Court Allows Allegations of Forced Labor to Build World Cup Stadiums to Proceed
4
Courthouse News Service. Forced Labor Suit Over Qatar World Cup Stadiums Proceed, Human Trafficking Claims Dismissed
5
Reuters. US Firm CH2M Hill Wins Key Qatar World Cup Contract
6
MEED. CH2M Hill Appointed as Programme Manager for 2022 World Cup
7
Courthouse News Service. Al.C. v. Jacobs Solutions Complaint
8
Georgetown University in Qatar – CIRS. Kafala Labor System Reform and the 2022 World Cup
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JURIST. US Federal Court Allows Lawsuit to Proceed Over Qatar World Cup Labor Conditions
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Colorado Politics. Federal Judge Refuses to Authorize Immediate Appeal in World Cup Trafficking Lawsuit
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TL Blog. F.C. et al. v. Jacobs Solutions Inc. et al., Entry 69
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Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse. C. v. Jacobs Solutions Inc.
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University of Michigan Law School Quadrangle. Sean Grimsley and Eric Olson, Co-Founders of Impact Litigation Firm
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Sparacino PLLC. Sparacino PLLC
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Global Rights PLLC. Global Rights PLLC
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PACER Monitor. FC et al v. Jacobs Solutions Inc. et al
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GovInfo. USCOURTS-cod-1_23-cv-02660-2
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Bloomberg Law. Qatar World Cup Labor Deaths Blamed on Jacobs Board in Lawsuit
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Bloomberg Law. Ad Firms Get Qatar World Cup Workers Forced Labor Row Trimmed
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Super Lawyers. Olson & Howard, PC