On December 9, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a one-sentence order declining to review an appeals court decision that continues the expansion of civil suits filed under RICO, the federal anti-racketeering statute. The decision was a setback for WLF, which filed a brief urging that review be granted. WLF argued that plaintiffs should not recover in a RICO action unless they show that their injuries were “proximately caused” by the defendant’s conduct, and that evidence that the injuries were foreseeable is insufficient to make that showing. The appeals court found that proximate cause existed and awarded massive damages against a drug company. WLF argued that proximate cause cannot be shown when, as here, the defendant’s allegedly improper promotional activity could not have caused the plaintiffs to incur prescription drug costs because the actions of independent third parties (doctors) broke the causal chain; they wrote prescriptions based on their own professional judgments.