Recently, there’s been an uptick in prosecuting pharmaceutical companies and other corporate entities using RICO statutes. While the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act has traditionally been used to prosecute members of organized crime, there has been more focus on using this powerful charge on large corporations.
To push back on possible future lawsuits and criminal charges, business lobbyists from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, and the Washington Legal Foundation recently filed amicus briefs in a class action at the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. An amicus brief is a document filed in appellate courts by non-litigants (i.e., people not directly involved in a case) to help further a certain cause. Usually, these non-litigants have a special interest in the legal matter at hand.
In this case, the CoC, NAM, and WLF are concerned that pursuing RICO charges and treble damages in these pharmaceutical cases will threaten free speech. Treble damages allow a judge to award triple the amount a jury decides to a plaintiff. By example, if a plaintiff is awarded $300,000 in a civil case, they could be given $900,000 if the judge decides to apply treble damages.
Their argument
The lobbyists’ claims that applying RICO could limit free speech comes at the helm of a class action suit filed against pharma company Abbott and its subsidiary, AbbVie. In this case, healthcare insurers (the plaintiffs) claimed that Abbott fraudulently marketed their anti-seizure drug Depakote as a treatment for schizophrenia and dementia. Healthcare plan sponsors said they were harmed because they ended up paying for the improper and off-labeled prescribing of Depakote for their subscribers in what they called an Abbott racketeering scheme.
The original verdict threw out the racketeering charges, but the plaintiff’s lawyers are seeking to revive them.
Although it seems unlikely that the Depakote case will move forward, the CoC, NAM, and WLF say that denying the right of pharmaceutical companies to explain the benefits of off-label prescribing could potentially deny prescribers important information about helpful drugs. Reuter’s reports:
“The importance of deterring such lawsuits extends beyond protecting pharmaceutical companies from the burdens of speculative litigation,” the Chamber brief said. “More broadly, such litigation potentially chills protected speech, deprives physicians and other medical professionals of truthful, beneficial scientific information and ultimately denies patients the advantage of informed medical treatment.”
The motivation behind the amicus brief is hoping to prevent future unfair RICO cases of this nature.
Delius & McKenzie, PLLC helps clients charged with racketeering or similar charges to obtain justice. Contact a Sevierville criminal defense attorney at (865) 428-8780 or complete our contact form. We defend clients in and around East Tennessee, including Sevierville, Seymour, Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, Greeneville, Bristol, Johnson City, and Kingsport.
Attorney Bryan E. Delius was born and raised in Sevier County, TN. He founded Delius & McKenzie more than 20 years ago, after receiving his JD from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. He is admitted in Tennessee and in several federal court systems. Learn more about Bryan E. Delius.
