BOCA RATON, FL (Boca Post) (Copyright © 2026) — GEO Group, the Boca Raton-based private prison and detention contractor, is headed back to federal court after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected its attempt to take an immediate, pretrial appeal in a long-running class-action case over detainee labor.
In a decision issued Feb. 25, the Court said GEO must wait until there is a final judgment before it can appeal a lower court’s ruling that refused to dismiss the lawsuit. The case centers on GEO’s operation of a private immigration detention facility in Aurora, Colorado, under contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE.
The lawsuit was brought by Alejandro Menocal, a former detainee at the Aurora facility, who filed on behalf of a class of detainees. The suit challenges two work-related policies GEO used at the facility. One, described in the case as a “Sanitation Policy,” required detainees to clean common areas without pay. The complaint says failure to perform assigned cleaning tasks led to escalating sanctions, up to 72 hours in solitary confinement. The second policy, called the “Voluntary Work Program,” offered detainees $1 per day for other work needed at the facility, including food preparation and laundry.
Menocal’s complaint alleged the sanitation policy violated a federal bar on forced labor and that the $1-per-day work program violated Colorado law through unjust enrichment.
GEO’s push to end the case early relied on a legal doctrine tied to a 1940 Supreme Court case, Yearsley v. W.A. Ross Construction Co. GEO argued it should not face liability because ICE had “authorized and directed” the challenged labor practices through its government contract. The trial judge in Colorado rejected that reading. The court found the contract did not instruct GEO to adopt the specific work rules at issue and concluded GEO “independently” developed and implemented them, going beyond its contractual obligations. The result: the case was set for trial rather than dismissal.
GEO appealed right away. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit dismissed the appeal, saying it lacked jurisdiction because the district court’s ruling was not a final decision ending the case.
The Supreme Court agreed with that bottom line and sent the case back for further proceedings. The key point: the Court said Yearsley is a potential defense to liability, not an immunity from being sued. That distinction matters because certain immunity rulings can be appealed immediately, before trial, under a narrow rule that allows some “collateral” issues to go up on appeal early. A standard defense, by contrast, is typically reviewed only after the trial court finishes the case.
In plain terms, the Court said GEO’s argument under Yearsley can still be raised later, but it does not give GEO a right to avoid trial itself. If GEO is eventually found liable, it can appeal then and argue the trial judge was wrong to deny its Yearsley defense. But it cannot stop the case now with an immediate appeal as of right.
The decision does not decide whether GEO ultimately wins or loses on the forced labor and unjust enrichment claims. It decides procedure and timing: when GEO is allowed to appeal a Yearsley denial.
What happens next is straightforward. The case returns to the trial court for further proceedings, with GEO still able to pursue its defenses as the litigation moves forward. The Supreme Court noted there is still another path to earlier appellate review in some situations — a separate certification process — but that did not happen here.
For Boca Raton readers, the local tie is corporate and structural rather than geographic to the events in dispute: GEO is headquartered in Boca Raton, and this Supreme Court decision sets the rules for how the company — and other federal contractors — can try to appeal in similar cases before trial is completed.
Source: U.S. Supreme Court opinion in GEO Group, Inc. v. Menocal et al., No. 24–758 (Decided Feb. 25, 2026).
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