Appeal in the Chevron Case Will Test the Boundaries of RICO

Newly filed appeals in the Chevron-Ecuador oil pollution case have set the stage for a potentially important court decision on the reach of the federal anti-racketeering statute as a corporate tool for combating liability lawsuits.

As I’ve noted, business interests increasingly view the civil provisions of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act of 1970 as a means to fight what they consider bogus suits. Litigation based on fraud, according to this view, ought to be deterred and punished under a law originally aimed at traditional organized crime syndicates. Plaintiffs’ lawyers, unsurprisingly, see the trend as an ominous attempt to distort a federal statute, demonize corporate critics, and evade responsibility for misconduct.