Ill. Judge Trims Revived Salesforce Sex-Trafficking Suit
By Lauraann Wood Law360 (January 8, 2026, 5:54 PM EST)
A sex-trafficking victim looking to hold software company Salesforce.com Inc. liable for doing business with a company that facilitated such trafficking can pursue the civil liability claim outlined in her revived lawsuit, but her criminal liability claim must stay behind, an Illinois federal judge has ruled.
U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall’s Wednesday order rejected Salesforce’s argument that the plaintiff, identified as G.G., dropped too many allegations between her third and fourth amended complaints to have preserved the same claim for civil Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) liability that the Seventh Circuit resurrected in 2023.
However, the operative complaint fails to allege a statutory violation that would trigger the criminal liability claim that G.G. sought to pursue in her case, Judge Kendall said.
“Salesforce does not dispute plaintiffs’ allegation that G.G. is a victim of sex-trafficking … due to Backpage advertising her for sale before and after learning she was a minor,” the order notes. It also notes that in 2017, the U.S. Senate found that Backpage knowingly facilitated prostitution and child sex trafficking.
What the Judge’s Ruling Means for the Case
The Seventh Circuit in 2023 analyzed G.G.’s third amended complaint in its opinion reversing a previous trial judge’s dismissal decision, but she and her mother filed a fourth amended complaint post-remand to include more information they’d obtained through discovery, their attorney Kenneth T. Fibich of Fibich Leebron Copeland Briggs told Law360 Thursday.
Salesforce argued that none of the allegations in the plaintiffs’ latest complaint suggests its contract with the now-defunct classified advertisement platform Backpage.com aimed to grow Backpage’s sex-trafficking business, and that “Backpage alone” could not be the type of “venture” the TVPRA holds liable for conduct that violates the statute’s civil liability provision.
Judge Kendall disagreed, finding the software company’s position to be legally unsupported and contradicted by the Seventh Circuit’s guidance that the relevant venture for civil liability doesn’t need to be a sex-trafficking venture, and could be a “commercial venture like running or expanding a business.”
G.G. and her mother make the same venture allegations in their latest complaint that the Seventh Circuit found sufficient in the previous version of their pleading, the judge said.
Why Salesforce Could Still Face Civil Liability
Salesforce also started from a “faulty premise” to argue the plaintiffs have insufficiently pled that Salesforce had constructive knowledge — meaning it knew or should have known — that Backpage’s venture violated the civil liability provision at issue, Judge Kendall ruled.
The software company asserted that constructive knowledge could only exist if a plaintiff plausibly claimed a defendant had a duty to investigate and could have uncovered relevant facts with reasonable diligence. But “that is not the correct standard for constructive knowledge in this circuit,” and the plaintiffs’ allegations satisfy the negligence standard governing their claims’ sufficiency, she said.
And while Salesforce correctly argued that providing limited technology support to a customer asking about a specific software feature would not constitute participation in a venture, the company’s alleged actions “go far beyond that,” as G.G. and her mother claim Salesforce was “in a direct, prolonged, and supportive contractual relationship” with Backpage, Judge Kendall said.
Salesforce asserted that the latest complaint’s lack of any accusation that the company sold custom software to Backpage necessarily meant the plaintiffs failed to sufficiently plead participation in the venture. But “nothing in the Seventh Circuit’s opinion implies that its holding as to participation rested on those now-removed allegations,” Judge Kendall said.
“Plaintiffs provide detailed accounts of communications between Backpage and Salesforce showing how Salesforce facilitated the success of Backpage’s business,” the chief judge said. “They have more than met their burden.”
Fibich told Law360 that he and his clients were happy with the ruling, as it keeps their case on track to be the first of several lawsuits against Salesforce to reach a jury. The parties are set for trial in early June.
Several similar lawsuits have been consolidated with G.G.’s case. While Judge Kendall’s ruling doesn’t automatically apply to those cases, the attorneys involved will likely “take comfort that these pleadings pass muster” and shape their filings accordingly, Fibich said.
Representatives for Salesforce didn’t immediately respond Thursday to a request for comment.
Background of the Backpage Trafficking Allegations
G.G. ran away from home in 2016, when she was 13. She was picked up by a sex trafficker who used Backpage.com to advertise and repeatedly sell her into prostitution, according to court records.
Meanwhile, G.G.’s mother searched for her and eventually found photos of her in an escort listing on Backpage, according to the Seventh Circuit’s opinion. She notified Backpage that G.G. was a minor, but Backpage left the listing up, she contended.
G.G. and her mother say that by 2008, Backpage was one of the most notorious sex-trafficking websites in the country. Years later, Salesforce entered into a contract with Backpage, according to the suit.
An Illinois federal court threw out their suit in 2022, finding that Salesforce was entitled to protection under federal law and that the plaintiffs failed to allege a plausible claim.
The plaintiffs are represented by Kenneth T. Fibich and Jay Henerson of Fibich Leebron Copeland Briggs and Peter Flowers of Myers & Flowers LLC.
Salesforce is represented by Bradley Hamburger, Russell Falconer, Andrew Legrand, Christopher Jones, and Kristin Linsley of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP, and Lucas Rael, Patricia Brown Holmes, and Robert Foley of Riley Safer Holmes & Cancilla LLP.
— Additional reporting by Hailey Konnath. Editing by Amy French.
