But-for and proximate causation ("by reason of", 18 U.S.C. § 1964(c))

AND · 18usc1962:causation

Under Holmes v. SIPC (503 U.S. 258 (1992)), Anza, and Hemi Group, proximate cause requires "some direct relation between the injury asserted and the injurious conduct alleged".

Exact element source

It shall be unlawful for any person
Source: docroot/ir/usc/title18.jsonl#title18_sec1962; Unicode character offsets [33:68] (end exclusive); SHA-256 6caae47f43b5ab0899b660616e298363bd36f9f540d915c2be11eb7126f5e27d.

All variants

Recorded DB variant labels, including zero-count variants
VariantDescriptionMerits instance blocksDistinct casesExample cases (up to 3 per group)
investment-injury-rule/injury-flows-from-predicate-acts-not-investment1
Satisfied 0; not satisfied 1; excluded context 0
1/f-supp-2d/118/0392-01 — United States District Court for the Southern District of New York · 2000 — not
proximate-cause/purchasers-via-intermediaries-outside-the-enterprise1
Satisfied 1; not satisfied 0; excluded context 0
1/f-supp-2d/926/1143-01 — United States District Court for the Central District of California · 2013 — satisfied
Unspecified variantNo variant assigned in the database.0
Satisfied 0; not satisfied 0; excluded context 3
0No counted merits examples

Excluded context examples: /f2d/976/1016-01 — United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit · 1992 — applied/merits; /f3d/660/0346-01 — United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit · 2011 — applied/merits; /us/507/0170-01 — Supreme Court of the United States · 1993 — applied/merits

How courts decided this element

Annotation blocks, including explicitly excluded context
CaseElementHolding and scopeVariantExact source quotations
/f-supp-2d/118/0392-01 — United States District Court for the Southern District of New York · 2000But-for and proximate causation ("by reason of", 18 U.S.C. § 1964(c))not
Counted merits instance
applied / merits

basis: pleaded; claim: (a),(c),(d); count: § 1962(a) claim; subject: count=§ 1962(a) claim

Under (a) the "by reason of" injury must come from the use/investment of racketeering income, not from the predicate acts themselves (Ouaknine, 2d Cir.).
investment-injury-rule/injury-flows-from-predicate-acts-not-investment
Elsewhere, they make it quite clear that the injury they have allegedly suffered — the supposed non-collectability of their various mortgages and loans — resulted, not from the investment of any money in a RICO enterprise, but rather because of the various predicate acts
Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f_supp_2d_118.jsonl#/f-supp-2d/118/0392-01; Unicode character offsets [17649:17920] (end exclusive); SHA-256 7a6992301d8f07cdcfefb2ba1333ee88e7724e88e90a83145c93f1937232b139.

Evidence kind: fact; polarity: cuts-against; absent flag: 0; quoted-rule flag: 0 (1 = tagged; 0 = not tagged)

they fail to state a cause of action under 18 USC § 1962(a). Thus, Plaintiffs’ RICO claims must be dismissed.
Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f_supp_2d_118.jsonl#/f-supp-2d/118/0392-01; Unicode character offsets [21640:21749] (end exclusive); SHA-256 7a6992301d8f07cdcfefb2ba1333ee88e7724e88e90a83145c93f1937232b139.

Evidence kind: held; polarity: not recorded; absent flag: 0; quoted-rule flag: 0 (1 = tagged; 0 = not tagged)

/f-supp-2d/926/1143-01 — United States District Court for the Central District of California · 2013But-for and proximate causation ("by reason of", 18 U.S.C. § 1964(c))satisfied
Counted merits instance
applied / merits

basis: triable; claim: (c),(d); party: class members who bought annuities through marketing organizations that are not members of the alleged enterprise; subject: party=class members who bought annuities through marketing organizations that are not members of the alleged enterprise

Injury need not pass through an enterprise member: the defendant's own standardized sales documents, done in furtherance of the enterprise's affairs, reach buyers who dealt with non-member sellers. First fact line is the court's summary of plaintiffs' argument, which it then accepts.
proximate-cause/purchasers-via-intermediaries-outside-the-enterprise
Because class members that purchased their annuity from non-enterprise FMOs still had to sign the “Allianzmandated” SOU, they suffered an injury by reason of Allianz’s operation of the enterprise.
Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f_supp_2d_926.jsonl#/f-supp-2d/926/1143-01; Unicode character offsets [33147:33343] (end exclusive); SHA-256 21289dc912cdd3fe1c08a082d0c16baed1b869223da6aebc79966cadcfbee6ee.

Evidence kind: fact; polarity: supports; absent flag: 0; quoted-rule flag: 0 (1 = tagged; 0 = not tagged)

Thus, Allianz’s development of the annuity products, design and dissemination of the marketing materials and SOUs, creation and utilization of the MAC Board to further its marketing efforts, and leadership of the enterprise are all “enterprise activities” that were undertaken in furtherance of an alleged scheme to defraud financial products purchasers.
Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f_supp_2d_926.jsonl#/f-supp-2d/926/1143-01; Unicode character offsets [35075:35429] (end exclusive); SHA-256 21289dc912cdd3fe1c08a082d0c16baed1b869223da6aebc79966cadcfbee6ee.

Evidence kind: fact; polarity: supports; absent flag: 0; quoted-rule flag: 0 (1 = tagged; 0 = not tagged)

And the “by reason of’ language of section 1964 requires a plaintiff to prove “but for” causation, proximate causation, and a concrete financial loss to a protectable business or property interest.
Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f_supp_2d_926.jsonl#/f-supp-2d/926/1143-01; Unicode character offsets [29748:29945] (end exclusive); SHA-256 21289dc912cdd3fe1c08a082d0c16baed1b869223da6aebc79966cadcfbee6ee.

Evidence kind: rule; polarity: not recorded; absent flag: 0; quoted-rule flag: 0 (1 = tagged; 0 = not tagged)

A RICO defendant’s conduct cannot be so neatly divided into “enterprise activities” and “non-enterprise activities,” with only the former supporting liability under RICO.
Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f_supp_2d_926.jsonl#/f-supp-2d/926/1143-01; Unicode character offsets [34638:34808] (end exclusive); SHA-256 21289dc912cdd3fe1c08a082d0c16baed1b869223da6aebc79966cadcfbee6ee.

Evidence kind: rule; polarity: not recorded; absent flag: 0; quoted-rule flag: 0 (1 = tagged; 0 = not tagged)

Because all of Allianz’s actions appear to have been in furtherance of the alleged enterprise’s unlawful scheme — and not a frolic and detour by Allianz alone — a reasonable jury could find that all of the class members were directly injured by the enterprise’s affairs.
Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f_supp_2d_926.jsonl#/f-supp-2d/926/1143-01; Unicode character offsets [36928:37198] (end exclusive); SHA-256 21289dc912cdd3fe1c08a082d0c16baed1b869223da6aebc79966cadcfbee6ee.

Evidence kind: held; polarity: not recorded; absent flag: 0; quoted-rule flag: 0 (1 = tagged; 0 = not tagged)

/f2d/976/1016-01 — United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit · 1992But-for and proximate causation ("by reason of", 18 U.S.C. § 1964(c))not_reached
Excluded from merits counts
applied / merits

claim: (c),(d)

Unspecified variantNo source quotation recorded for this block.
/f3d/660/0346-01 — United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit · 2011But-for and proximate causation ("by reason of", 18 U.S.C. § 1964(c))not_reached
Excluded from merits counts
applied / merits

claim: (c)

Unspecified variantNo source quotation recorded for this block.
/us/507/0170-01 — Supreme Court of the United States · 1993But-for and proximate causation ("by reason of", 18 U.S.C. § 1964(c))not_reached
Excluded from merits counts
applied / merits

claim: (c)

Unspecified variantNo source quotation recorded for this block.

Court interpretations

interpretation

"The Supreme Court requires plaintiffs to establish both but for cause and proximate cause in order to show injury 'by reason of' a RICO violation.

/f3d/920/0958-01

"The Supreme Court requires plaintiffs to establish both but for cause and proximate cause in order to show injury 'by reason of' a RICO violation.
Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f3d_920.jsonl#/f3d/920/0958-01; Unicode character offsets [11394:11541] (end exclusive); SHA-256 43e4170249e2a24056cca48e31088f46875c9dc4419d09a210a34c125ef9232e.

Under Holmes v. SIPC (503 U.S. 258 (1992)), Anza, and Hemi Group, proximate cause requires "some direct relation between the injury asserted and the injurious conduct alleged".

interpretation

And the “by reason of’ language of section 1964 requires a plaintiff to prove “but for” causation, proximate causation, and a concrete financial loss to a protectable business or property interest.

/f-supp-2d/926/1143-01 — United States District Court for the Central District of California · 2013

And the “by reason of’ language of section 1964 requires a plaintiff to prove “but for” causation, proximate causation, and a concrete financial loss to a protectable business or property interest.
Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f_supp_2d_926.jsonl#/f-supp-2d/926/1143-01; Unicode character offsets [29748:29945] (end exclusive); SHA-256 21289dc912cdd3fe1c08a082d0c16baed1b869223da6aebc79966cadcfbee6ee.

Under Holmes v. SIPC (503 U.S. 258 (1992)), Anza, and Hemi Group, proximate cause requires "some direct relation between the injury asserted and the injurious conduct alleged".

not-required

First-party reliance by the plaintiff on a mail/wire fraud misrepresentation, provided someone's reliance or another direct causal chain proximately caused the injury (Bridge v. Phoenix Bond & Indemnity Co., 553 U.S. 639 (2008))

No source quotation recorded.