The Commercial Division's "losing streak" for civil RICO plaintiffs shows no signs of reversing. Courts continue to dismiss these claims when the underlying facts amount to breach of contract or garden-variety fraud rather than a true racketeering enterprise. The specific contours of recent dismissals and any emerging judicial consensus on particular pleading deficiencies remain unclear from available rulings.
For New York business litigators, the takeaway is straightforward: civil RICO remains a difficult sell in the Commercial Division despite the Supreme Court's broader approach to RICO standing in Medical Marijuana, Inc. v. Horn. Adding a RICO count to chase treble damages and attorney's fees will likely draw heightened scrutiny. Practitioners should expect courts to demand concrete factual allegations of an organized enterprise operating through a pattern of racketeering activity—not simply a recharacterization of fraud claims under RICO's label.