Opinion ID: 751836
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Extortion Claims

Text: Camelio continued his investigation after he lost his job, relying on his right as a union member to inspect the union's financial records. See 29 U.S.C.A. § 431(c) (West 1985). He also announced his candidacy for vice president of the union's northern New England region. Camelio claims that several of the defendants attempted to stifle his investigation and force him to abandon his candidacy by threatening to deprive him of his membership in the union if he did not desist. He asserts that such conduct violates the Hobbs Act, 18 U.S.C.A. § 1951(a), a crime which qualifies as a predicate act under RICO. See 18 U.S.C.A. § 1961(1). Like Camelio's misappropriation claims, his Hobbs Act claims cannot satisfy RICO's causation requirement because the Hobbs Act violations he alleges did not cause the loss of either his job or his union membership. The Hobbs Act punishes any person who obstructs, delays or affects commerce ... by robbery or extortion or attempts or conspires to do so. 18 U.S.C.A. § 1951(a). The Act defines extortion as the obtaining of property from another, with his consent induced by wrongful use of actual or threatened force, violence, or fear, or under color of official right. 18 U.S.C.A. § 1951(b)(2) (emphasis added). If Camelio's complaint successfully pleads any Hobbs Act violations, those violations resulted from defendants' attempts to induce Camelio to abandon certain property rights attendant to his union membership (e.g., his right to inspect the union's financial records and his right to seek union office). As Camelio concedes that these attempts did not succeed, they could not have caused his injuries. Instead, the complaint alleges that Camelio's injuries were actually caused by defendants' unilateral acts which, although reprehensible, do not violate the Hobbs Act. 5