Tobacco.org

HEMI GROUP, LLC, and KAIL GACHUPIN, Petitioners, V. CITY OF NEW YORK, Respondent. PETITIONERS' REPLY BRIEF (PDF) 

The City of New York's brief in opposition fails to confront the central issue presented by the divided court of appeals decision in this case: Whether government has standing under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act to seek recovery for non commercial injury. Unable to deny that a split in the circuits exists on this important issue, and ignoring this Court's interpretation of "business or property" under the Clayton Act (from which Congress adopted the term in the RICO statute), the City instead distorts the pertinent case law in an attempt to show that the Second Circuit panel's decision does not conflict with decisions in other circuits. The City does not contest that a uniform, national answer to this question is of vital importance, and instead merely argues that a writ of certiorari should not issue because of the City's desire to collect taxes (trebled under RICO) from parties who never owed the taxes to begin with.

Jump to full article »