June 19, 2006

The Supreme Court's decisions earlier this month on the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act are generally good news for business defendants that have been seeking to narrow the statute's application, reports Marcia Coyle at the NLJ. The Court stuck to its previous position that plaintiffs must prove that a defendant's RICO violation was the proximate cause of their injury, and it sent the Mohawk case (see here, here and here), alleging that a manufacturer's use of illegal immigrant workers amounted to racketeering, back to the 11th Circuit with instructions to apply that test, vacating the existing judgment against the company (cross-posted at Overlawyered).