RICO Claims Dismissed in Tomato Suit

A California federal court has dismissed Racketeer Influence and
Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) claims against tomato-processing
companies Los Gatos and Ingomar but will allow a bribery claim to proceed. Morning Star Packing Co. v. SK Foods, L.P., No. 9­-0208 (E.D. Cal., order entered June 14, 2017). The Morning Star Packing Co. brought a RICO and bribery lawsuit against several competitors in 2009, alleging they conspired to fix prices, rig bids and avoid competing for the same customers. The court dismissed Morning Star’s RICO claims against Ingomar and Los Gatos, finding that the company could not show that the competitors committed two injurious predicate acts. Similar claims against other competitors—SK Foods and Intramark—were not at issue in the ruling and will proceed to trial.

The court refused to grant summary judgment on Morning Star’s
bribery allegations against Ingomar. “Viewing this evidence in the
light most favorable to Morning Star, and drawing all reasonable
inferences in its favor, a reasonable juror could conclude Ingomar
and SK Foods had a ‘meeting of the minds’ to bribe customers,”
the court held.

Issue 639