Of Gangs and Gaggles: Can a Corporation Be Part of an Association-in-Fact RICO Enterprise? Linguistic, Historical, and Rhetorical Perspectives

Authors

Randy D. Gordon, Texas A&M University School of LawFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-2014

Journal Title

University of Pennsylvania Journal of Business Law

ISSN

1097-4938

Abstract

Over 30 years ago, courts of appeals began to hold that the RICO statute’s definition of association-in-fact enterprise is broad enough to include corporations as constituent members, even though that definition states that such an association is limited to a “group of individuals.” This Article demonstrates why these cases were wrongly decided from a variety of perspectives: linguistic, systemic and consequentialist. It also suggests a strategy for correcting this widespread interpretive error and provides evidence that the Supreme Court may be disposed to agree that the lower courts have uniformly erred.

First Page

973

Last Page

1028

Num Pages

56

Volume Number

16

Issue Number

4

Publisher

University of Pennsylvania Law School

Recommended Citation

Randy D. Gordon, Of Gangs and Gaggles: Can a Corporation Be Part of an Association-in-Fact RICO Enterprise? Linguistic, Historical, and Rhetorical Perspectives, 16 U. Pa. J. Bus. L. 973 (2014).
Available at: https://scholarship.law.tamu.edu/facscholar/1040

File Type

PDF