Second Circuit Construes Civil RICO's "Domestic Injury" Requirement

In Short

The Background: A Chilean plaintiff filed a civil RICO action against a Chilean defendant based on the latter's pattern of misappropriation of the former's assets.

The Issue: The defendant sought to dismiss the action based on a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision limiting the territorial reach of the civil RICO cause of action.

The Outcome: Although the district court dismissed the action in full, the Second Circuit reversed in part, holding that the alleged misappropriation of tangible assets located in the United States could qualify as a "domestic" injury sufficient to ground the claim, despite the plaintiff's foreign residency.

A recent decision by the Second Circuit is one of the first in the nation to construe the U.S. Supreme Court's important 2016 holding in RJR Nabisco, Inc. v. European Community. In RJR Nabisco, the Court limited the extraterritorial application of the civil enforcement provisions of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt