Kasowitz, on Behalf of the Human Trafficking Legal Center, Files Supreme Court Amicus Brief Arguing Against Statutory Interpretation That Could Bar Trafficking Survivors’ RICO Claims

Kasowitz Benson Torres, on behalf of the Human Trafficking Legal Center, a non-profit organization that seeks justice for trafficking survivors, recently filed an amicus curiae brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in Medical Marijuana, Inc., et al. v. Douglas J. Horn, arguing that under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (“RICO”), a plaintiff may assert a civil RICO claim if the plaintiff’s injury to business or property resulted from an antecedent personal injury.
 
The appeal is from the Second Circuit Court of Appeals’s decision that a truck driver was not barred from suing under RICO for loss of his job following a positive drug test, based on his allegations that the defendants had falsely marketed medical marijuana products he had used as containing no THC.  Defendants argued that the driver’s job loss was not injury to his “business or property,” as it must be under RICO, but resulted from a personal injury (i.e., the drugs in his system) and thus fell outside the scope of civil RICO, which is not meant to remedy “invasions of bodily autonomy.” 
 
In its amicus brief, Kasowitz argues that because the economic injuries of trafficking survivors invariably flow from personal injuries, defendants’ proposed rule, which would essentially foreclose survivors from pursuing civil RICO remedies, would be contrary to Congress’s intent in expressly adding human-trafficking offenses to the list of RICO predicate acts.  Since Congress did so, trafficking survivors have relied on civil RICO, which allows treble damages, to combat traffickers, their associates, and the broad networks within which they operate.  The Kasowitz brief urges the Supreme Court to reject defendants’ interpretation of civil RICO, which would contravene congressional intent, and to ensure that trafficking survivors may continue to employ civil RICO as an essential tool to combat trafficking.

The case is scheduled to be argued in the U.S. Supreme Court on October 15, 2024.
 
The Kasowitz Benson Torres team representing the Human Trafficking Legal Center was led by Special Counsel Amit R. Vora and included associates Rachel Bandli, Jordan Goldberg and Ahmed N. Mabruk.