A former restaurant worker has sued a Jacksonville operator in federal court, alleging he kept her working through threats and intimidation for nearly 14 years.
The filing names the manager tied to a Soutel Drive shop and invokes a federal trafficking statute. It is a civil case, not a criminal prosecution, Action News Jax reported Wednesday.
Recruited At About 18
Marleatia Bess filed in October against Zouhaier Hamami and Tunis Holdings, LLC. The suit claims Hamami recruited her around 2003, when she was about 18, and that she worked at what became Tunis Wings and Subs on Soutel Drive in Moncrief. State records list him as manager of the company.
The complaint alleges a stack of threats if she pushed back: firing, homelessness, and being kept from another job. It also claims Hamami kept her passport in his safe. Bess alleges that intimidation held her in the work for nearly 14 years, and that she was trafficked.
She said she felt afraid and stayed quiet. Action News Jax said it tried Hamami at his business and by phone and could not reach him for comment by the time of the broadcast.
The Window And The Exit
Leaving, she said, took more than a decade of building courage. Watching customers' children grow up while she remained at the same drive-thru window made her wonder what was outside.
Hubbard House was part of how she got out. Bess said that together, "we created a safety plan in order for me to leave."
A Civil Claim Under The Trafficking Law
Travis Walker, her attorney, said the alleged threats and coercion showed control over Bess's housing and her ability to work. On the decision to file, he pointed to what he already had: "There's enough of evidence between text messages, emails and her testimony."
Walker said the plaintiffs opted to file under the federal trafficking statute rather than pursue criminal charges. The Justice Department says 18 U.S.C. Section 1589 makes it unlawful to provide or obtain a person's labor or services through one of the statute's prohibited means. Bess is suing under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act and claiming forced labor.
Other Lawsuits, Other Allegations
OnLabor reports that 280 new cases asserting claims under that act were filed in U.S. district courts in 2024, more than in any prior year. The same article puts financial recoveries from TVPRA lawsuits at nearly $942 million as of 2024. Those figures describe cases nationwide, not Bess's filing.
A separate restaurant lawsuit, reported in July 2025 by New England Biz Law Update, was filed in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania by five former workers at a Willow Grove restaurant. They alleged forced labor, human trafficking, wage theft and discrimination, and said the abuse and exploitation spanned nearly a decade.
In that complaint, plaintiffs alleged managers arranged cash meetings, in parking lots or on site, for fraudulent permanent-resident and Social Security cards, and threatened deportation if workers complained or did not comply. Action News Jax's account of the Jacksonville suit describes threats about a job, housing and future work, plus a passport allegedly kept in a safe. It does not describe fake documents or deportation threats.
The path Bess described runs from that Soutel Drive window to a safety plan with Hubbard House, and from there to a civil complaint her lawyer says rests on texts, emails and her testimony. The operator named in it had not been reached for comment when the station's report aired.
