MANILA, Philippines -- A United States Appeals Court has prohibited the prosecution of the 10 Filipino nurses who sued their recruiter Sentosa and their lawyer, the parties to the case told INQUIRER.net Friday.

Recruitment specialist Emmanuel Geslani quoted the nurses' lawyer Salvador Tuy, while Sentosa lawyer in the country Ibaro Relamida referred to the report of the New York-based Newsday.

The Second Appellate Court of the Supreme Court of New York dismissed the charges against the 10 nurses who were criminally charged by the Suffolk County Prosecutor's Office for abandoning their patients in 2006. It also stopped the prosecutors from pursuing the case.

Other nurses recruited by Sentosa from the Philippines followed suit and the group was called 27++ because of the additional nurses who resigned from Sentosa due to alleged contract violations.

"This is in a vindication of the Filipino nurses who sought justice in the US courts as even in their country their own labor and POEA. [Philippine Overseas Employment Administration] cases were dismissed by the government in favor of Sentosa Philippines," Geslani said.