Opinion ID: 686724
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: the consequence of quasi-criminality

Text: 26 Because I believe this case to be quasi-criminal in nature, I believe that summary judgment was an inappropriate procedural mechanism by which to find Ferrante liable under RICO. More accurately, in the context of this motion for a stay, I believe that Ferrante has demonstrated a substantial possibility of success on appeal on the issue of summary judgment's propriety in a quasi-criminal action. 27 It must be conceded that several cases have been reported in which a defendant was found liable under RICO through the use of summary judgment. See Beneficial Standard Life Ins. Co. v. Madariaga, 851 F.2d 271, 276-77 (9th Cir.1988); Crawford v. La Boucherie Bernard Ltd., 815 F.2d 117, 122 (D.C.Cir.1987); Aetna Casualty & Surety Co. of Illinois v. Levy, No. 83-C-3566, 1985 WL 2131 (N.E.Ill. July 24, 1985). However, none of these involved the federal government as a plaintiff. The only reported case in which the court upheld a grant of summary judgment in favor of the plaintiff in a government-prosecuted civil RICO action is United States v. Private Sanitation Indus. Ass'n, 995 F.2d 375 (2d Cir.1993) (Avellino ). In that case, RICO liability was imposed on Salvatore Avellino, one of Ferrante's co-defendants, by means of summary judgment. The equitable remedies upheld against Avellino were virtually identical to those the government seeks to impose on Ferrante. Id. at 377-78. However, none of the cases granting or upholding a grant of summary judgment address the legal question of whether summary judgment ought to be available in a quasi-criminal--that is, punitive--action predicated on criminal behavior. Thus, while I recognize that we are bound by the result in Avellino, I must nevertheless express my disagreement with its premise of procedural regularity. 28 In my view, because a finding of liability constitutes a finding that the defendant has committed criminal acts, the conventional standards for summary judgment, see Celotex v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986), and Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986), provide inadequate protection to civil RICO defendants. The prospect of punitive liability in a quasi-criminal action demands that the court afford the defendant something akin to a presumption of innocence. 8 Unless the defendant has made no attempt to refute the government's allegations, the government ought to be required to prove the defendant's liability at trial. The nature of quasi-criminal remedies requires that trial courts refrain from engaging in pre-trial weighing of evidence where the defendant has come forward with assertions which, if credited by the trier of fact, would absolve the defendant of liability. Thus, summary judgment might be appropriate in cases where all of the elements of civil RICO liability were either uncontested by the defendant or established by the preclusive effect of prior criminal convictions. 29 In the case before us, the availability of severance renders the government's use of summary judgment unnecessary. Fed.R.Crim.Proc. 14. Ferrante could easily be severed from his co-defendants and tried separately. Given the vast size of this case, little additional burden would be imposed by a requirement that the government prove the second predicate offense and enterprise elements before a trier of fact. 30 In sum, my belief that Ferrante has a substantial possibility of success on appeal begins with my conviction that summary judgment ought not be employed to impose quasi-criminal liability, except in cases entirely devoid of contested material facts. 31