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Mohawk Industries v. Williams oral argument
April 26, 2006 by Ross Runkel at LawMemo
Mohawk Industries v. Williams pits employees against employer in a civil RICO case. I wrote an article about this case - "Does RICO apply when a corporation allegedly contracts with a recruiter to obtain illegal employees?" for the ABA's print publication Supreme Court Preview. After today's US Supreme Court argument I've scoured the press for hints on the outcome.
The case: Employees claim that Mohawk violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act by forming an association with outside employee recruiters with the purpose of violating the immigration statutes.
Main issues:
- Can a corporation (Mohawk) be part of a separate RICO enterprise known as an "association-in-fact" or is the concept of association-in-fact limited to associations of individuals (that is, humans)?
This hinges on interpreting Section 1961(4):
"enterprise" includes any individual, partnership, corporation, association, or other legal entity, and any union or group of individuals associated in fact although not a legal entity; [emphasis added]
- Did the employees properly plead that Mohawk was conducting the affairs of the separate enterprise, as opposed to conducting its own affairs?
The action at the Supreme Court:
On the issue of a corporation being part of an association-in-fact:
- Justices Ginsburg and Scalia: Suggested the Court might not consider this issue because Mohawk did not argue it in the 11th Circuit proceedings.
- Justice Alito: Pressed the big question. Why does the definition of "enterprise" use the word "includes" instead of "means"?
- Justice Scalia: Suggested that the word "union" modifies the word "individuals," which clearly excludes corporations.
On the issue of Mohawk conducting its own affairs:
- Justice Breyer: Wonders whether it is wise to "RICO-ize vast amounts of commercial activities."
- Chief Justice Roberts: Thinks the employees could have easily gone after Mohawk on a theory of conspiracy rather than RICO.
- Justice Scalia: Doesn't want to delve into the minds of corporations, figuring out whether they are conducting their own affairs or the affairs of a separate enterprise.
- Justice Souter: Providing employees with false documents is not a normal activity of a corporation.
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