Plaintiff A, et al. v. Schair, et al., No. 12-16542 (11th Cir. 2014)

Plaintiffs filed suit against defendant under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA), 18 U.S.C. 1595, alleging that he engaged in for-profit "sex tourism" in the Amazon River Basin through his boat touring company, Wet-A-Line tours. Because of ongoing U.S. investigations into defendant's conduct, plaintiffs did not oppose the entry of a stay under section 1595(b). Almost a year later, plaintiffs moved to lift the stay based on a perceived lack of prosecution by the U.S. government. Ultimately, the district court granted plaintiffs' motion to lift the court's prior stay of the civil action. Defendants brought an interlocutory appeal from the district court's order lifting the stay. The court concluded that an order lifting a stay was not a final decision that was appealable under 28 U.S.C. 1291. Because the collateral order doctrine did not extend to orders lifting stays of section 1595 cases, the court dismissed defendants' interlocutory appeal for lack of appellate jurisdiction.