Nurses File Class Action Alleging Private Equity Company Harren Equity Partners Profited from Forced Labor Scheme

Nurses recruited from foreign countries to work in U.S. hospitals have filed a federal class action lawsuit against private equity firm Harren Equity Partners, LLC, alleging the firm knowingly profited from a forced labor scheme carried out by its portfolio company, MedPro (Management Health Systems).

The lawsuit, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia, Charlottesville Division, Case No. 3:26-cv-00101-JHY-JCH, alleges that Harren knowingly benefited from MedPro’s use of steep early- termination penalties and the threat of lawsuits to keep nurses in low-paid, understaffed, and unsafe hospital jobs, in violation of the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA). The nurses are represented by Berger Montague, Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll LLP, Towards Justice, the Law Offices of Magen E. Kellam, Touff Schweich PLLC, and attorney Ashley Davis of Charlottesville-based MichieHamlett.

“Private equity firms cannot look the other way while the companies they control profit from coercion,” said Rachel Dempsey, Associate Director at Towards Justice. “Our complaint alleges that Harren knew or should have known how MedPro kept these nurses in place — through the threat of tens of thousands of dollars in penalties and arbitration filings many nurses didn’t even know existed — and that it profited from that arrangement for a decade.”

According to the complaint, MedPro required its nurses to sign multiyear contracts carrying tens of thousands of dollars in financial penalties for leaving before the contract term ended, plus interest, litigation costs, and attorneys’ fees [with no upper limit]. The complaint further alleges that Harren, which acquired a controlling stake in MedPro in 2016 and placed two of its three partners on MedPro’s board, knew or should have known of the scheme given its hands-on management role and MedPro’s history of related litigation and settlements dating back to 2014.

Additional Information

• Read the full class action complaint (filed September 29, 2026) here.
• See the full case page here.
• Plaintiffs are represented by Berger Montague, Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll LLP, Towards Justice, The Law Offices of Magen E. Kellam, Touff Schweich PLLC, and MichieHamlett PLLC.

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