Loeber v. Alghusain

Background

Carlton Bryan Loeber, proceeding without a lawyer, sued Ameer Alghusain, AMIDAC Rail Corporation, American Railways LLC, and General Railways LLC. He asserted claims under the civil Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), 18 U.S.C. § 1962, and other federal criminal statutes.

In an earlier order, the court dismissed the civil RICO claims but allowed Loeber to amend them. It dismissed the federal criminal-law claims with prejudice. Loeber then filed an amended complaint.

Court’s Analysis

The court concluded that the amended complaint again failed to state a plausible claim for relief. A complaint states a plausible claim when its factual allegations, accepted as true at this stage, support a reasonable basis for legal relief. Because Loeber was representing himself, the court construed his complaint liberally, but explained that he still had to allege facts meeting the required pleading standards.

For a civil RICO claim, the plaintiff must provide particularized allegations about matters including a criminal enterprise, qualifying predicate acts, injury, and causation. The amended complaint alleged that Loeber loaned Alghusain approximately $16,000 to finance a shipment of rail construction materials, but that Alghusain instead used the money to buy hookahs and for personal high-roller spending with a debit-card access device.

The court ruled that these allegations were not enough to show the type of activity covered by civil RICO. References to Alghusain’s companies did not plausibly establish a group associated for a common criminal purpose, a continuing organization, or a continuing unit engaged in racketeering. The complaint also did not describe a common purpose with the particularity required by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 9(b), which requires fraud-related allegations to be stated with particular detail.

Disposition

The court dismissed the amended complaint with prejudice on its own motion under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), the rule allowing dismissal when a complaint does not state a legally sufficient claim. The court explained that Loeber had already been given an opportunity to correct the deficiencies and had not done so.

Alghusain’s motion to dismiss was terminated as moot, meaning the court did not need to decide that motion separately because it had already dismissed the amended complaint. The case was ordered closed. Judge James Donato signed the order on September 7, 2022.