Extraterritorial Application of Civil Statutes

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: United States of America v. Julio Leija-Sanchez, Manual Leija-Sanchez, and Gerardo Salazar-Rodriguez

Case No.: 14-1393, 14-1584, 15-1589

Officials: FLAUM, EASTERBROOK, and HAMILTON, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Extraterritorial Application of Civil Statutes

Civil Statue applied to murder conducted in Mexico in furtherance of US fraud scheme.

“Appellants’ principal argument is that our 2010 decision should be overruled. They rely on Morrison v. National Australia Bank Ltd., 561 U.S. 247 (2010), which reiterated the presumption against extraterritorial application of civil statutes. Yet our 2010 decision recognized that U.S. law has such a presumption and thought it not controlling, for two reasons: first, Bowman distinguishes criminal from civil law, holding that different rules apply; second, the murder in Mexico was arranged and paid for from the United States, and was committed with the goal of protecting a criminal organization that conducted business in the United States in order to defraud officials of the United States government as well as employers in the United States. The murder thus had ample links to the United States, and since §1959 covers racketeering in foreign commerce as well as in interstate commerce, we thought that its language applies.”

Affirmed

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.