WASHINGTON – Truck driver Douglas Horn, left with chronic pain after an accident, thought a supplement billed as “a new CBD-rich drug” might help.
The company promised that Dixie-X, a hemp-based product, does not contain THC, the active ingredient in marijuana. But after Mr. Horn lost his job after failing a drug test, he filed a lawsuit using a section of federal law designed to combat organized crime.
The Supreme Court said Monday it would decide whether Mr. Horn can continue his case.
The justices agreed to hear Medical Marijuana's appeal seeking a review of a lower court's ruling that Mr. Horn could sue under the racketeer law.
Prosecutors can use RICO to go after mobsters and others. However, civil lawsuits are allowed even if no one is charged with a crime. If successful, litigants can receive three times the amount of actual damages and attorneys' fees.
The law allows for lawsuits by anyone who “suffers damage to business or property” as a result of extortion.
Mr. Horn alleges that Medical Marijuana Inc. committed mail and wire fraud and lost his job.
Horn said that after seeing the Dixie Horn said similar claims were made on the website and by customer service representatives.
But a few weeks after she started taking Dixie X in 2012, Horne tested positive for THC. Shocked, Horne said he sent the Dixie X to a lab, which confirmed it contained THC.
Learn more What does CBD do? Health benefits and when to be careful
In 2015, Mr. Horne sued for lost profits using both RICO and New York state law.
The district judge said RICO excludes personal injury claims. When Horne appealed, the New York-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit sided with him. The court said Mr. Horne's suit would be allowed because of the simple meaning of the word “business.”
“Because the term 'business' includes 'employment,' Mr. Horne was injured 'in the line of business' as defined by the RICO statute,” Circuit Judge Gerald Lynch wrote for three judges. I wrote this to a panel consisting of: Mr. Horne's “termination cost him current and future wages, insurance and pension benefits, all of which were related to his employment.”
