Rodd Fernandes v. Town of Pahrump

MEMORANDUM

Rodd Fernandes appeals from the district court’s judgment dismissing his action brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1988 and the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (“RICO”). We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 . We review de novo. Knievel v. ESPN, 398 F.3d 1068 , 1072 (9th Cir.2005). We affirm.

The district court properly dismissed Fernandes’s RICO claim because he did not allege facts suggesting a pattern of racketeering activity or any nexus to interstate commerce. See Turner v. Cook, 362 F.3d 1219, 1229 (9th Cir.2004) (“In order to constitute a ‘pattern,’ there must be at least two acts of racketeering activity within ten years of one another.”) (citation omitted); Musick v. Burke, 913 F.2d 1390, 1398 (9th Cir.1990) (to state a civil RICO claim, the enterprise engaged in the racketeering activity must have a nexus to interstate commerce); see also Howard v. Am. Online Inc., 208 F.3d 741, 751 (9th Cir. 2000) (“Plaintiffs cannot claim that a conspiracy to violate RICO existed if they do not adequately plead a substantive violation of RICO.”).

The district court properly dismissed Fernandes’s equal protection claim because he did not allege facts…