Civil RICO--Limitations in Limbo

Abstract

One puzzling area of concern for civil RICO litigants is the absence of an applicable statute of limitations. Although Congress had several opportunities to prescribe a limitations period for civil RICO claims, it declined to do so. As a consequence, RICO litigants find themselves in federal courts litigating an explicit federal cause of action without a prescribed federal statute of limitations. This article establishes a frame of reference through which the necessary federal common law can establish the proper period of limitations for civil RICO claims in an orderly and logical way, rather than by the "dint of repeated application" of precedent.