R.J. Reynolds prevails in U.S. Supreme Court on geographic scope of Civil RICO

Client(s) R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company

Jones Day successfully represented the petitioners in a major U.S. Supreme Court decision restricting the extraterritorial application of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). The Court held that RICO's criminal provisions apply extraterritorially to a limited extent, but that its civil cause of action applies only to domestic injuries suffered inside the United States. This limitation is significant given the breadth of RICO, which can be triggered by dozens of predicate offenses ranging from mail fraud to money laundering. Moreover, the Supreme Court's analysis strongly suggests that many other federal causes of action should likewise be limited to domestic injuries.

RJR Nabisco, Inc. v. European Community, No. 15-138 (U.S.)