St. John's Law Review Volume 64 Number 4 Volume 64, Fall 1990, Number 4 Article 7 Concurrent Jurisdiction Over Federal Civil RICO Claims: Is It Workable? An Analysis of Tafflin. v Levitt Yolanda Eleni Stefanou Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.stjohns.edu/lawreview This Symposium is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at St. John's Law Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in St. John's Law Review by an authorized editor of St. John's Law Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. CONCURRENT JURISDICTION OVER FEDERAL CIVIL RICO CLAIMS: IS IT WORKABLE? AN ANALYSIS OF TAFFLIN v. LEVITT YOLANDA ELENI STEFANOU* INTRODUCTION With its January 22, 1990 decision of Tafflin v. Levitt,1 the Supreme Court of the United States put an end to the many years of debate between both federal and state courts as to whether state courts have concurrent jurisdiction over civil claims arising under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act ("RICO").2 In a unanimous opinion by Justice O'Connor, the Court concluded that such jurisdiction on the part of the states was indeed permitted.3 In reaching its decision, the majority ex- amined both the statutory language of RICO4 as well as its legisla- tive history, and determined that Congress had failed to address the jurisdictional issue.5 Moreover, the Court found that there would be no "clear incompatibility" between the exercise of state court jurisdiction over civil RICO actions and federal interests., This Article explores the implications of Tafflin, focusing on its probable effects and the jurisdictional problems associated with civil RICO claims.