By: Derek Hawkins//April 10, 2018//
7th Circuit Court of Appeals
Case Name: Armada (Sinapore) PTE Limited v. Amcol International Corporation
Case No.: 17-2324
Officials: BAUER, MANION, and ROVNER, Circuit Judges.
Focus: Breach of Contract – RICO Claims
The plaintiff in this case is a Singaporean shipping company. It entered into shipping contracts with an Indian mining company, but the Indian company breached those contracts. Now, the plaintiff believes that American businesses engaged in racketeering activity to divest the Indian company of assets so as to thwart the plaintiff’s attempts to recover damages for the breached contracts. Seeking redress for this alleged wrong, the plaintiff brought this lawsuit, claiming violations of the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (“RICO”). While the plaintiff’s case was pending in the district court, the Supreme Court decided RJR Nabisco, Inc. v. European Community, 136 S. Ct. 2090 (2016). Addressing RICO’s extraterritorial effect, the Supreme Court held that “[a] private RICO plaintiff must allege and prove a domestic injury to its business or property.” Id. at 2106. After this decision came down, the American defendants moved for judgment on the pleadings, maintaining the plaintiff had not pleaded a domestic injury. The district court agreed and entered judgment on the RICO claims against the plaintiff, who now appeals. Because we also conclude the plaintiff has not pleaded a domestic injury, we affirm.
Affirmed