Sou brothers want feds to pay legal fees

The defense lawyers for Alec and Mike Sou of Aloun Farms have asked that the federal government pay their clients at least $366,000 in attorneys’ fees to defend them against forced labor charges that were dropped last month by prosecutors after the start of trial.

Thomas Bienert Jr. of San Clemente, Calif., and Thomas Otake of Honolulu contend that federal law permits the award of attorneys’ fees because the prosecution’s case against the Sous was "frivolous."

In asking Chief U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway to award the fees, the lawyers contend the prosecution did not have a "good basis" for the charges in a 12-count indictment.

Otake, Mike Sou’s lawyer, acknowledged Tuesday that the federal law sets a high standard and that they face an "uphill battle."

But he said that "if fees can’t be recovered in a case like this, it’s hard to imagine a situation where fees could be recovered."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Susan Cushman would not comment.

A hearing date on the request had not yet been set.

The Sous, brothers who own and operate the Kapolei-based agricultural business, were charged in the indictment with forcing 44 Thai laborers to work at the farm for about five months in 2004 and 2005. The workers paid up to $20,000 to a Thai recruiting company to get the jobs, according to the prosecutors.

On Aug. 4 at the start of the fourth day of what had been expected to be a weeks-long jury trial, federal prosecutors dropped all charges against the Sous, saying the dismissal was "in the interests of justice."

In their request filed Friday, the defense lawyers contended that the prosecution’s "primary claim" that recruitment fees were illegal was based on an "incorrect reading of the law."

The law did not prohibit recruitment fees, which the prosecution would have known had it conducted "a modicum of due diligence" in researching the law, the lawyers said.

The lawyers said the prosecution alleged the Sous forced the Thais to work by threatening to send them back to Thailand where they would be faced with huge debts incurred in paying the recruitment fees.

But the contract that the laborers signed with the Thai recruiting company said the company would refund the recruitment fees if the Aloun Farms jobs did not meet their expectations, the attorneys said.

Also, the prosecution alleged that the workers were left with "minimal pay" from Aloun, but their employment contract with the farm specified that meals and taxes would be deducted from their pay and several workers sent the bulk of their pay to their families in Thailand, the lawyers said.

"For the past two years, defendants have been forced to expend enormous amounts of money to defend their innocence and have suffered incalculable damage to their business reputation and goodwill," the lawyers said.

Bienert, the lead counsel, said his firm was paid $297,020 by his client Alec Sou. Otake said he was paid $69,298 by Mike Sou.

Both lawyers said the amounts paid are less than the fees they charge but that they seek only what was paid.