H.J. Inc. v. Northwestern Bell Telephone Co., 492 U.S. 229 (1989)

Supreme Court decision of June 26, 1989 holding that a RICO "pattern" requires related predicate acts that amount to or pose a threat of continued criminal activity, and that the pattern element is not limited to organized crime.

Date

1989-06-26

Kind

court-opinion

Source

CourtListener (Free Law Project), text of the opinion of the Supreme Court of the United States

Retrieved

2026-10-12

Docket

492 U.S. 229 (1989), No. 87-1252

Rights

Opinion of the Supreme Court of the United States, a federal work in the public domain under 17 U.S.C. § 105. CourtListener (Free Law Project) hosts the text; it is not the source institution.

Decided June 26, 1989; No. 87-1252. Customers of Northwestern Bell sued under civil RICO, alleging a bribery scheme directed at the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission. The lower courts dismissed for failure to plead a “pattern” under the Eighth Circuit’s test requiring multiple illegal schemes.

The Court rejected that test. A pattern requires predicates that are related and that amount to or pose a threat of continued criminal activity: “A party alleging a RICO violation may demonstrate continuity over a closed period by proving a series of related predicates extending over a substantial period of time.” (492 U.S. at 242.)

On the reach of the statute the Court said: “The occasion for Congress’ action was the perceived need to combat organized crime. But Congress for cogent reasons chose to enact a more general statute, one which, although it had organized crime as its focus, was not limited in application to organized crime.” (492 U.S. at 248.) The opinion contrasts RICO with Title V of the Organized Crime Control Act, which refers expressly to organized criminal activity. The facts involve utility rate-making, not organized crime.