Poulos

This permissive interlocutory appeal comes to us from a denial of class certification in a lawsuit involving the gaming industry. Proposed class representatives, William H. Poulos, Brenda McElmore, and Larry Schreier (“Class Representatives”), challenge an alleged “scheme to defraud patrons of gambling casinos” by a group of over sixty gaming machine manufacturers and the casino and cruise ship operators that use the machines (“the Casinos”). The proposed classes encompass nearly everyone who has played video poker or electronic slot machines within the last fifteen years. We take this opportunity to clarify the extent to which a class action plaintiff must establish individualized reliance to meet the causation requirement of a civil Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (“RICO”) claim predicated on mail fraud- — an issue that bears heavily on a plaintiffs ability to meet the predominance and superiority requirements of class certification under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(b)(3). 1 We conclude that the Class Representatives, like all plaintiffs asserting civil RICO claims, must prove individualized reliance where that proof is otherwise necessary to establish…