4 Tips For Defending Against Tribal RICO Claims

In the last decade, tribal entities and officials have increasingly become the subjects of civil suits alleging violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1962 et seq. When originally proposed, RICO was described as “an act designed to prevent ‘known mobsters' from infiltrating legitimate businesses.”[1] “RICO was intended to combat organized crime, not to provide a federal cause of action and treble damages to every tort plaintiff.”[2] Despite its original intent, however, RICO is now too often used to transform an otherwise garden-variety tort claim into a frivolous headline-grabbing lawsuit, presumably with the hope that it will scare the defendants into a hasty settlement agreement.