Opinion ID: 2828218
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Pattern

Text: We turn next to USA Funds’ argument that Bible has failed to allege a pattern of racketeering activity. “A pattern of racketeering activity consists, at the very least, of two 8 On the RICO claims, USA Funds repeats the same argument it made on Bible’s breach of contract claim, contending that she has failed to allege an injury. For the same reasons, we reject this contention. Bible’s alleged injury is that she made monthly payments for costs she did not owe, which constitutes a financial loss. Nothing more is required to plead an injury under § 1962(c). See Haroco, Inc. v. American Nat’l Bank & Trust Co. of Chicago, 747 F.2d 384, 398 (7th Cir. 1984) (holding that plaintiffs’ allegations of excessive interest charges resulting from defendants’ alleged fraudulent scheme to overstate the prime rate satisfied the injury requirement), aff’d, 473 U.S. 606 (1985). 46 No. 14-1806 predicate acts of racketeering committed within a ten-year period.” Jennings v. Auto Meter Products, Inc., 495 F.3d 466, 472 (7th Cir. 2007), citing 18 U.S.C. § 1961(5). To prove a pattern, Bible will need to satisfy the “continuity plus relationship” test, which requires that the predicate acts be related to one another (the relationship prong) and that they pose a threat of continued criminal activity (the continuity prong). Id. at 473, quoting Midwest Grinding Co. v. Spitz, 976 F.2d 1016, 1022 (7th Cir. 1992). The relationship prong is satisfied “if the criminal acts ‘have the same or similar purposes, results, participants, victims, or methods of commission, or otherwise are interrelated by distinguishing characteristics and are not isolated events.’” DeGuelle v. Camilli, 664 F.3d 192, 199 (7th Cir. 2011), quoting H.J. Inc. v. Northwestern Bell Telephone Co., 492 U.S. 229, 240 (1989). The continuity prong is satisfied by showing either that the criminal behavior, although it has ended, was so durable and repetitive that it “carries with it an implicit threat of continued criminal activity in the future,” Midwest Grinding Co., 976 F.2d at 1023, or that the past conduct “by its nature projects into the future with a threat of repetition,” H.J. Inc., 492 U.S. at 241. Whether or not Bible needed to plead details of her pattern theory, cf. Runnion v. Girl Scouts, 786 F.3d at 528, Bible’s allegations satisfy the relationship-plus-continuity test. She alleges that USA Funds, through its enterprise, unlawfully imposed collection costs on thousands of borrowers in default in the same manner it did to her. She alleges that USA Funds has sent the form document that became the rehabilitation agreement in this case more than 100,000 times over a period of several years. Bible also alleges that the conduct at issue is USA Funds’ standard operating procedure and that it is continuous and ongoing. These allegations satisfy the No. 14-1806 47 relationship-plus-continuity test. See, e.g., Corley v. Rosewood Care Center, Inc., 142 F.3d 1041, 1050 (7th Cir. 1998) (relationship-plus-continuity test satisfied where plaintiff alleged defendant systematically overcharged residents at several nursing homes).