Commercial Litigation and Arbitration

RICO Pattern — Two Year Duration Benchmark for Closed-Ended Continuity

From Spool v. World Child Int’l Adoption Agency, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 5691 (2d Cir. March 18, 2008):

Since the Supreme Court decided H.J. Inc., we have "never held a period of less than two years to constitute a 'substantial period of time.'" Cofacredit, 187 F.3d at 242. This conception of the substantiality requirement accords with that of other circuits. See GICC Capital Corp., 67 F.3d at 468. Although we have not viewed two years as a bright-line requirement, it will be rare that conduct persisting for a shorter period of time establishes closed-ended continuity, particularly where, as here and as in GICC Capital Corp., "[t]he activities alleged involved only a handful of participants" and do not involve a "'complex, multi-faceted conspiracy.'" Id. (quoting Polycast Tech. Corp. v. Uniroyal, Inc., 728 F. Supp. 926, 948 (S.D.N.Y. 1989)).

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