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Payors, Players, And Proximate Cause, Elisabeth F. Crusey

Notre Dame Law Review

At issue is whether pharmaceutical companies’ allegedly misleading drug labels that providers rely upon when prescribing drugs to patients, which plaintiffs classify as mail and wire fraud, are the proximate causes of third-party payors (TPPs) overpaying for medication, or enduring a financial injury, such that the TPPs fulfill RICO standing under 18 U.S.C. § 1964(c). Included in this issue are questions about whether the alleged RICO violations directly caused the TPPs’ financial injuries such that plaintiffs meet the proximate cause requirements under § 1964(c) to state a valid claim. Presently, the First, Third, and Ninth Circuits agree that allegations of …