Court Opinion

ID: 9480507
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 07:50:01.808854+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:47:44.046787
License: Public Domain

ALDISERT, Senior Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
I do not agree that Rule 4(e), F.R.Civ.P. operates to save personal jurisdiction here. The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) prohibits extraterritorial service of process. 18 U.S.C. § 1965(b). Were I to frame the issue it would be in the following terms: if an applicable 1970 federal statute precludes service of process on defendants residing outside the United States, may a plaintiff resort to the earlier enacted Rule 4(e), F.R. Civ.P., adopted September 16, 1938, amended 1963, for service of process? The answer, I think, is clearly no.
Section 1965(b) authorizes nationwide service of process in civil RICO actions. 18 U.S.C. § 1965(b); see H.Rep. No. 91-1549, 1970 U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News 4007, 4034 (“[section 1965(b)] provides nationwide service of process on parties, if the ends of justice require it, in actions under section 1964”). It provides:
In any action under § 1964 of this chapter in any district court of the United States in which it is shown that the ends of justice require that other parties residing in any other district be brought before the court, the court may cause such parties to be summoned, and process for that purpose may be served in any judicial district of the United States by the Marshal thereof.
18 U.S.C. § 1965(b) (emphasis added). Under any interpretation of the express language of section 1965(b), there is no authority for extraterritorial service of process. Indeed, courts faced with this issue have already held that section 1965(b) does not provide it. Soltex Polymer Corp. v. Fortex Indus., Inc., 590 F.Supp. 1453, 1460 (E.D.N.Y.1984) (dismissing counterclaims against Belgian individual and corporate defendants because there was no method of service under federal statute; “[although RICO authorizes nationwide service of process ... it does not, by its very language, authorize service in a foreign country”), aff'd, 832 F.2d 1325 (2d Cir.1987); see also North Carolina Ex rel. Long v. Alexander & Alexander, 680 F.Supp. 746, 749 (E.D.N.Y.1988) (court could not exercise personal jurisdiction pursuant to § 1965(b)' because “the federal RICO statute does not provide for service on foreign defendants”); Nordic Bank PLC v. Trend Group, Ltd., 619 F.Supp. 542, 564 (S.D.N.Y.1985) (court could not exercise personal jurisdiction over foreign parties because the language of section 1965(b) does not authorize service in a foreign country; “[sjince effective service is a prerequisite to the exercise of jurisdiction, *1524any foreign party against whom a RICO claim is asserted must be served with process in this country”). I would go even further than the cited cases. I believe Congress intentionally precluded extraterritorial service of process in civil RICO actions. 18 U.S.C. § 1965(b). Rule 4(e), F.R.Civ.P. does not save personal jurisdiction in light of this prohibition.
The majority accept Brink’s contention that because section 1965(b) does not explicitly limit service of process to the United States, Rule 4(e), F.R.Civ.P. provides that either state or federal service provisions may be used to acquire personal jurisdiction. I will not accept this fanciful conception of statutory construction. Rule 4(e), F.R.Civ.P. enacted in 1938 and amended in 1963, had been in existence for 30 years when RICO was enacted. 18 U.S.C. § 1965(b) (enacted Oct. 15, 1970); Rule 4, F.R.Civ.P. (transmitted to the Attorney General on January 3, 1938 and effective Sept. 16, 1938). Congress could easily have referenced Rule 4 or made explicit provisions for extraterritorial service or simply referred to state service of process procedures had it intended that extraterritorial service be available for civil RICO. Congress did not. This was not an oversight. There is no merit to Brink’s creative “Oops — I’m — sorry — but — Congress — forgot” method of statutory construction.
Section 1965(b) expressly limits the enforceability of civil RICO to the borders of these United States. The statute, which sprang from a desire to rid this country of the havoc wreaked by organized crime, was a criminal enforcement mechanism at its inception. Aware of the power of the purse, Congress also provided a civil remedy of treble damages. The treble damages provision was intended to be punitive. Congress wanted to deter individuals from participating in organized crime and its related activities.
But this power to deter conduct does not extend to the ends of the earth. “Crime is not punished as an offense against God, but as prejudicial to society.” Froude, Reciprocal Duties of State and Subjects, in Short Studies on Great Subjects (1872). Indeed, the British government has refused to enforce treble damage awards made by American courts by enacting the Protection of Trading Interests Act, 1980:
5. — (1) A judgment to which this section applies shall not be registered ... and no court in the United Kingdom shall entertain proceedings at common law for the recovery of any sum payable under such a judgment.
(2) This section applies to any judgment given by a court of an overseas country, being—
(a) a judgment for multiple damages within the meaning of subsection (3) below ...
(3) In subsection (2)(a) above a judgment for multiple damages means a judgment for an amount arrived at by doubling, trebling or otherwise multiplying a sum assessed as compensation for the loss or damage sustained by the person in whose favour the judgment is given.
See also [Jan.-June] Antitrust & Trade Reg.Rep. (BNA) No. 963 (May 8, 1980) (forty-one British Commonwealth Nations adopted a resolution against American multiple damage enforcement).
It was not Congressional intent, nor would it be proper were that the case, to deter the conduct of parties unconnected to the United States, or to provide windfall civil judgments to citizens of any country who sue citizens of another country for fraudulent transactions which only casually touch upon the United States. Congress only intended to deter the conduct of individuals within the borders of this country.
I read section 1965(b) to mean exactly what it says. “[If] the ends of justice require ... other parties [may] be served in any judicial district of the United States by the Marshall thereof.” Because the appellant was not served within a judicial district of the United States, the district court failed to acquire personal jurisdiction over him.
My view does not deprive Brinks of a remedy. It is a British company. It was a victim of British crime. The British defendants are located in Great Britain. British procedures provide for service of process. *1525British laws provide relief. British Courts are open to grant that relief.
Accordingly, I would affirm the judgment of the district court.