On October 12, 2017, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held that lawsuits seeking damages under RICO, the federal anti-racketeering statute, must be dismissed when (as here) the plaintiff lacks a direct relationship with the defendant and thus cannot demonstrate that his injuries were directly caused by the defendant’s action. The decision was a victory for WLF, which filed a brief urging dismissal. The court agreed with WLF that a plaintiff cannot demonstrate the requisite “proximate cause,” demanded of all RICO plaintiffs, if his theory of causation is too attenuated; e.g., if any damages depend on the actions of intermediaries not under the defendant’s control. The plaintiff health insurers argued they were injured when a drug manufacturer allegedly improperly induced doctors to prescribe its drug. The court held that the insurers could not demonstrate proximate cause because any damages they may have suffered depended on the intervening actions of third parties.