Nearly three years after a federal district court dismissed with prejudice a nationwide class action alleging antitrust and RICO claims against insurers and brokers in connection with contingent commission arrangements, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals has revived a limited swath of plaintiffs’ claims. The Third Circuit concluded that plaintiffs’ allegations regarding contingent commission arrangements alone were insufficient to support antitrust and RICO claims. With respect to plaintiffs’ allegations of a Marsh-centered conspiracy (for the antitrust claim) and enterprise (for the RICO claim), however, the court concluded that plaintiffs’ allegations of bid-rigging with respect to excess casualty policies placed by Marsh were sufficient to support such claims, but only with respect to those defendants specifically alleged to have engaged in bid-rigging. In addition, the Third Circuit vacated the dismissal of RICO claims premised on the allegation that the CIAB constitutes a RICO enterprise through which the broker defendants engaged in a pattern of racketeering activity.
The Third Circuit’s decision does not end the motion to dismiss phase in this long-running litigation. The case will now be remanded to the district court for further proceedings, including consideration of whether plaintiffs adequately pleaded other elements of the reinstated claims.
Click here to review a copy of the Third Circuit’s decision.
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