Diaz

PER CURIAM Opinion; Concurrence by Judge REINHARDT; Concurrence by Judge KLEINFELD; Concurrence by Judge BERZON; Dissent by Judge GOULD.

We examine whether a false imprisonment that caused the victim to lose employment and employment opportunities is an injury to “business or property” within the meaning of RICO.

Facts

Diaz claims to be a victim of the Los Angeles Police Department’s infamous Rampart scandal. He sued over two hundred people connected with the Los Ange-les Police Department (LAPD) or Los Angeles city government under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), 18 U.S.C. §§ 1961-1968 , alleging that LAPD officers had “fabricated evidence” that he had committed assault with a deadly weapon, and that they had “tampered with witnesses and conspired to obtain [a] false conviction” against him, Compl. ¶ 16. As a consequence, Diaz claims, “[ajmong other forms of injury, [he] lost employment, employment opportunities, and the wages and other compensation associated with said business, employment and opportunities, in that [he] was rendered unable to pursue gainful employment while defending himself against unjust charges and while unjustly…

concurring:

I concur in the court’s per curiam opinion as well as in Judge Kleinfeld’s separate concurrence. I share Judge Kleinfeld’s view that, given the construction that RICO has been afforded by the Supreme Court, we are no longer free to read it as an anti-racketeering statute. Rather, starting with Sedima, S.P.R.L. v. Imrex Co., 473 U.S. 479, 496-500 , 105 S.Ct. 3275 , 87 L.Ed.2d 346 (1985), it has been stretched both in scope and meaning far beyond that which Congress originally intended and has become, through judicial construction, a wide ranging act that provides treble damages for all kinds of conduct unrelated to the racketeering activity that Congress sought to control. Although I disagree with this construction, we must follow the law as it is determined by the Supreme Court. In my view, however, it is well past the time for our lawmakers to take another look at RICO and consider amending the statute so as to limit it to its original purpose.

Facts

Diaz claims to be a victim of the Los Angeles Police Department’s infamous Rampart scandal. He sued over two hundred people connected with the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) or Los Angeles city government under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act 10714 DIAZ v. PARKS (RICO), 18 U.S.C. §§ 1961-1968, alleging that LAPD officers had “fabricated evidence” that he had committed assault with a deadly weapon, and that they had “tampered with witnesses and conspired to obtain [a] false conviction” against him, Compl. ¶ 16. As a consequence, Diaz claims, “[a]mong other forms of injury, [he] lost employment, employment opportu- nities, and the wages and other compensation associated with said business, employment and opportunities, in that [he] was rendered unable to pursue gainful employment while defend- ing himself against unjust charges and while unjustly incar- cerated.” Compl. ¶ 31.

Defendant Parks moved to dismiss, arguing, among other things, that Diaz lacked standing because he did not allege an injury to “business or property” as required by RICO. See 18 U.S.C. § 1964(c). The district judge agreed and dismissed without prejudice…

with whom REINHARDT and BERZON, Circuit Judges, join, concurring:

I concur in the result. I write separately because my analysis differs from that in the majority unauthored opinion. I focus on the language of the statute. Mendoza v. Zirkle Fruit Co. 1 does not bind us, and in any event speaks mostly to causation rather than standing. Grogan v. Platt 2 and Doe v. Roe, 3 the Eleventh and Seventh Circuit cases, strain RICO’s statutory language. A careful reading of the statute cannot be reconciled with the “personal injury” exclusion in the Seventh and Eleventh Circuit cases.

The RICO statute tells us what kinds of injuries give rise to RICO claims. Some are in the nature of “personal injury” claims, and some are not. The section stating what gives rise to a claim, section 1964, says “Any person injured in his business or property by reason of a violation of section 1962 of this chapter may sue therefor in any appropriate United States district court.”' 4 The words telling us what kind of wrong gives rise to a claim are “by reason of a violation of section 1962.” The phrase “injured in his business or property” is a further limitation, speaking not to the nature of the wrong, but…

concurring:

I concur in the court’s per curiam opinion as well as in Judge Kleinfeld’s separate concurrence.

GOULD, Circuit Judge, with whom SCHROEDER, Chief Judge, BYBEE and CALLAHAN, Circuit Judges, join, dissenting:

I respectfully dissent, and would affirm the district court’s decision that there was no standing under RICO because Diaz’s complaint did not sufficiently allege an “injury to business or property” within the meaning of the statute.

The majority acknowledges that the district court “reasonably applied the law of RICO standing as it existed at the time,” Maj. Op. at 898, but then concludes that the reasoning of our intervening decision in Mendoza v. Zirkle Fruit Co., 301 F.3d 1163 (9th Cir.2002), now requires reversal. Mendoza’s determination of standing was understandable on its facts, where the conspiracy challenged under RICO was aimed directly at suppressing the wages of farm workers. There the plaintiffs, legal agricultural laborers in eastern Washington, the heartland of Washington’s fruit industry, in their RICO complaint had pleaded that the defendant fruit growers’ scheme was illegally and systematically to hire undocumented immigrants in order to…