Domanus v. Locke Lord LLP

Dist. Ct. did not err in dismissing plaintiffs’ RICO claim against certain defendants-lawyers who represented Polish entity, where plaintiff alleged that said defendants assisted other defendants in stripping entity’s assets and diluting plaintiffs’ shares in said entity, and where said stripping of assets took place several years prior to defendants-lawyers beginning their representation of both entity and other defendants who were accused of actually stripping entity’s assets. Plaintiff failed to allege facts to show that defendants-lawyers knew about any conspiracy to strip entity’s assets, and plaintiffs’ allegation that defendants-lawyers established billing system that charged to entity bills for legal services rendered to other defendants was insufficient to establish RICO claim since any arrangement for payment of legal bills was outside scope of RICO conspiracy alleged against other defendants.