Truck driver triumphs at Supreme Court in case involving marijuana testing

A truck driver who lost his job after failing a test for marijuana was victorious at the U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday in a lawsuit against the provider of a product that was marketed as free of the ingredient that creates a high.

Douglas Horn was fired from his job as a truck driver in New York in 2012 after he failed a drug test that was traced back to his ingestion of a CBD product called Dixie X. The manufacturer of Dixie X was a company called Medical Marijuana, which had touted the product for its ability to relieve pain. 

Horn had suffered an injury that year in a crash. His research brought him to Dixie X, which Medical Marijuana said contained cannabidiol (CBD) but no tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the ingredient that is targeted in testing because it is what creates a marijuana high. 

But Horn flunked a marijuana test given to him by employer Enterprise Transportation Co. and was fired. He was driving as a team with his wife, who then quit her job rather than be on the road by herself.

Horn sued Medical Marijuana under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO).

The issue before the court – oral arguments were heard in October – was whether the suit Horn filed against Medical Marijuana was eligible for the treble damage payments – three times whatever a judge or jury would determine should be paid as damages – that are a feature of penalties under RICO.

In a 5-4 decision, with the majority opinion written by Justice Amy Coney Barrett, the court ruled that Horn could collect treble damages, and sent the case back to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. 

The 2nd Circuit had ruled in Horn’s favor also, reversing a lower court decision. 

The question before the court was whether Horn could be said to have been injured by his dismissal in a way that would be seen as eligible for treble damages under RICO.

RICO, according to Barrett’s opinion, which quoted the statute, “creates a cause of action for ‘any person injured in his business or property’ by reason of a criminal RICO violation.”

But recapping what had occurred in lower courts, Barrett noted that the District Court in New York had ruled in favor of Medical Marijuana’s claim that Horn’s injury – his lost employment – was from a “personal injury.” The District Court held that RICO “forecloses recovery not only for personal injuries but also for business or property harms that result from such injuries,” according to Barrett’s recap. 

But the Second Circuit reversed that decision.

Medical Marijuana appealed the Second Circuit decision.The end result is that a case involving a lone truck driver wound up in the rarefied air of the less than 2% of appeals to the Supreme Court that are accepted for review.

“The sole question before the Court is whether civil RICO categorically bars recovery for business or property losses that derive from a personal injury,” Barrett wrote.

In her summary of the 61-page opinion (which includes a dissent from Justice Clarence Thomas), Barrett says her decision does not address whether Horn suffered injury. But on the issue of damages, she writes, “A plaintiff can seek damages for business or property loss regardless of whether the loss resulted from a personal injury.”

With the lower court having granted summary judgement to Medical Marijuana and then the 2nd Circuit reversing on the issue of treble damages, the actual damages Horn may be able to collect from Medical Marijuana have not been adjudicated. Barrett’s remand order puts the case back into the 2nd Circuit.

(FreightWaves will report further on this case Wednesday.) 

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