U.S. Supreme Court Hears RICO Arguments in Case of Truck Driver Fired Over Failed Drug Test

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday heard arguments over whether a truck driver who was fired for failing a drug test after using a CBD wellness product can sue the manufacturer under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO, the New York Times reports. Provisions of RICO require claimants to show injury to “business or property” and the truck driver, Douglas Horn, contends his business was injured by the product, Dixie X, which was advertised in High Times magazine as containing no THC. 

Horn sued Medical Marijuana Inc., Dixie Holdings, and Red Dice Holdings under RICO, claiming the companies engaged in a pattern of racketeering carried on through an enterprise that included mail and wire fraud. Under RICO, courts can award triple damages to plaintiffs that show the defendant’s racketeering activity injured them in their business or property, a phrase the Supreme Court previously determined excludes personal injury. 

A federal trial judge has ruled that Horn’s injury is personal, rather than “business or property.” During the arguments, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson disagreed saying Horn is not claiming that he got ill because of the product.”

“He’s not saying he was personally injured. He didn’t even know that he had ingested THC until the testing and the firing.” — Brown via the Times

Justice Clarence Thomas seemed to believe that Horn did not meet the burden under Rico, saying that “Medical marijuana did not fire you.”

The court’s decision is likely to come in June or July.