United States Eleventh Circuit

In an action under RICO and the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) claiming that defendant restaurant franchise (Ruth's Chris Steak House) knowingly provided illegal aliens with names and social security numbers of American citizens to use for illegal employment, unlawfully took employees' tips, discriminated on the basis of race, and retaliated against employees who challenged those and other practices, dismissal of certain counts of the complaint is affirmed in part where: 1) plaintiffs failed to plead that defendants had actual knowledge that the unauthorized aliens who they allegedly hired had been "brought into the United States" in violation of 18 U.S.C. section 1324; 2) plaintiffs' mere use of the words "conspiracy" and "aiding and abetting" without any more explanation of the grounds of plaintiffs' entitlement to relief was insufficient; 3) the complaint did not plausibly allege that plaintiff was harassed because he was Caucasian; and 4) defendants were not strangers to the business relationships with which they allegedly interfered, and thus plaintiffs failed to state a tortious interference claim. However, the dismissal is reversed in part where the amended complaint adequately pleaded that defendants encouraged or induced an alien to reside in the United States, and either knew or recklessly disregarded the fact that the alien's residence here was illegal, in violation of 18 U.S.C. section 1324(a)(1)(A)(iv).

Appellate Information

• Decided 04/09/2010
• Published 04/09/2010

Judges

Court

• United States Eleventh Circuit

Counsel