Sedima, S.P.R.L. v. Imrex Co.
E942131
Sedima, S.P.R.L. v. Imrex Co. is a landmark 1985 U.S. Supreme Court decision that broadly interpreted civil RICO, making it easier for private plaintiffs to sue for damages arising from racketeering activity.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Sedima, S.P.R.L. v. Imrex Co. canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T11730682 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Sedima, S.P.R.L. v. Imrex Co. Context triple: [Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, notableUseInCase, Sedima, S.P.R.L. v. Imrex Co.]
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A.
Sibbach v. Wilson & Co.
Sibbach v. Wilson & Co. is a 1941 U.S. Supreme Court case that upheld the validity of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure under the Rules Enabling Act and helped define the scope of federal procedural rulemaking.
-
B.
Schorsch Meier GmbH v Hennin
Schorsch Meier GmbH v Hennin is a notable English contract law case, associated with Lord Denning, concerning the enforcement of foreign currency judgments and the impact of European Community law on domestic legal principles.
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C.
Spartan Steel & Alloys Ltd v Martin & Co (Contractors) Ltd
Spartan Steel & Alloys Ltd v Martin & Co (Contractors) Ltd is a leading English Court of Appeal case on negligence and pure economic loss, noted for Lord Denning’s influential judgment limiting recovery for relational economic loss.
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D.
Reeves v. Sanderson Plumbing Products, Inc.
Reeves v. Sanderson Plumbing Products, Inc. is a 2000 U.S. Supreme Court decision that clarified the standards for proving age discrimination under the ADEA, particularly the role of pretext and circumstantial evidence in employment discrimination cases.
-
E.
Barlow Clowes International Ltd v Eurotrust International Ltd
Barlow Clowes International Ltd v Eurotrust International Ltd is a leading Privy Council decision, delivered by Lord Hoffmann, that clarified the test for dishonest assistance in breach of trust within English equity and trust law.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Sedima, S.P.R.L. v. Imrex Co. Target entity description: Sedima, S.P.R.L. v. Imrex Co. is a landmark 1985 U.S. Supreme Court decision that broadly interpreted civil RICO, making it easier for private plaintiffs to sue for damages arising from racketeering activity.
-
A.
Sibbach v. Wilson & Co.
Sibbach v. Wilson & Co. is a 1941 U.S. Supreme Court case that upheld the validity of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure under the Rules Enabling Act and helped define the scope of federal procedural rulemaking.
-
B.
Schorsch Meier GmbH v Hennin
Schorsch Meier GmbH v Hennin is a notable English contract law case, associated with Lord Denning, concerning the enforcement of foreign currency judgments and the impact of European Community law on domestic legal principles.
-
C.
Spartan Steel & Alloys Ltd v Martin & Co (Contractors) Ltd
Spartan Steel & Alloys Ltd v Martin & Co (Contractors) Ltd is a leading English Court of Appeal case on negligence and pure economic loss, noted for Lord Denning’s influential judgment limiting recovery for relational economic loss.
-
D.
Reeves v. Sanderson Plumbing Products, Inc.
Reeves v. Sanderson Plumbing Products, Inc. is a 2000 U.S. Supreme Court decision that clarified the standards for proving age discrimination under the ADEA, particularly the role of pretext and circumstantial evidence in employment discrimination cases.
-
E.
Barlow Clowes International Ltd v Eurotrust International Ltd
Barlow Clowes International Ltd v Eurotrust International Ltd is a leading Privy Council decision, delivered by Lord Hoffmann, that clarified the test for dishonest assistance in breach of trust within English equity and trust law.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (48)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
United States Supreme Court case
ⓘ
civil RICO case ⓘ |
| characterization | landmark civil RICO decision ⓘ |
| citation | 473 U.S. 479 ⓘ |
| citationStyle | Sedima, S.P.R.L. v. Imrex Co., 473 U.S. 479 (1985) NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| country |
United States of America
ⓘ
surface form:
United States
|
| court | Supreme Court of the United States ⓘ |
| decisionDate | 1985 ⓘ |
| dissentingOpinionBy |
Harry A. Blackmun
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
John Paul Stevens NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| docketNumber | No. 84-648 ⓘ |
| holding |
A civil RICO plaintiff need not allege a separate racketeering injury distinct from the injury caused by the predicate acts.
ⓘ
A civil RICO plaintiff need not show a prior criminal conviction of the defendant to bring a civil RICO action. ⓘ Injury to business or property by reason of a RICO violation is sufficient to confer standing under 18 U.S.C. § 1964(c). ⓘ The civil RICO cause of action is to be liberally construed in accordance with the statute’s remedial purposes. ⓘ |
| impact |
Expanded availability of civil RICO actions for private plaintiffs.
ⓘ
Led to increased civil RICO litigation in federal courts. ⓘ |
| issue |
Whether civil RICO requires a prior criminal conviction as a prerequisite to a civil action.
ⓘ
Whether civil RICO requires a showing of a special racketeering injury distinct from the harm caused by predicate acts. ⓘ |
| jurisdiction | federal question jurisdiction ⓘ |
| keyConcept |
injury to business or property
ⓘ
liberal construction of remedial statutes ⓘ pattern of racketeering activity ⓘ |
| legalArea |
civil RICO
ⓘ
federal civil procedure ⓘ |
| lowerCourt | United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| lowerCourtHolding | Imposed additional requirements for civil RICO standing, including racketeering injury and prior conviction. ⓘ |
| majorityJusticesJoining |
Lewis F. Powell, Jr.
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Sandra Day O’Connor NERFINISHED ⓘ Thurgood Marshall NERFINISHED ⓘ Warren E. Burger NERFINISHED ⓘ William H. Rehnquist NERFINISHED ⓘ William J. Brennan, Jr. NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| majorityOpinionBy | Byron R. White NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| petitioner | Sedima, S.P.R.L. NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| proceduralPosture | Appeal from the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ⓘ |
| relatedStatuteSection |
18 U.S.C. § 1962
GENERATED
ⓘ
18 U.S.C. § 1964(c) GENERATED ⓘ |
| remedyDiscussed |
attorney’s fees for prevailing civil RICO plaintiffs
ⓘ
treble damages under civil RICO ⓘ |
| respondent | Imrex Co., Inc. NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| statuteCitation | 18 U.S.C. §§ 1961–1968 ⓘ |
| statuteInterpreted | Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| subjectMatter | private civil remedies for racketeering activity ⓘ |
| SupremeCourtDisposition | Reversed and remanded ⓘ |
| term | 1984 Term ⓘ |
| vote | 8-1 ⓘ |
| yearDecided | 1985 ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Sedima, S.P.R.L. v. Imrex Co. Description of subject: Sedima, S.P.R.L. v. Imrex Co. is a landmark 1985 U.S. Supreme Court decision that broadly interpreted civil RICO, making it easier for private plaintiffs to sue for damages arising from racketeering activity.
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO)
→
notableUseInCase
→
Sedima, S.P.R.L. v. Imrex Co.
ⓘ
subject surface form:
Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act