Supreme Court divided in case of a trucker fired after taking CBD elixir

Supreme Court divided in case of a trucker fired after taking CBD elixir

CNN
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The Supreme Court appeared sharply divided Tuesday in the case of a former commercial truck driver who was fired after a failed drug test he said was caused by a “CBD-rich medicine.”

A decision in the case, expected next year, could determine the ability of Americans to collect substantial damages under an anti-mob law if they lose their job after being injured by products.

The question before the court involved whether the driver, Douglas Horn, was permitted to file his lawsuit under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations, or RICO, Act, which authorizes civil lawsuits – and allows plaintiffs to collect triple damages – for business or property harms.

People leave the US Supreme Court on February 21 in Washington, DC.
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After just more than an hour of argument on Tuesday, it appeared the case could divide the court’s conservative justices, some of whom seemed sympathetic to Horn’s position and others who were wary of opening up the ability for people to seek large awards for run-of-the-mill injury claims.

Medical Marijuana Inc., and other companies involved in distributing the CBD product, argued Horn’s injury was a personal one – and therefore not a business or property harm as required in the law. That drew sharp pushback from the court’s liberal wing, especially Justice Elena Kagan.

“If you’re harmed when you lose a job, then you’ve been injured in your business, haven’t you?” Kagan asked the lawyer for the companies. The law, Kagan said, “just says if you’ve been injured by a RICO violation in your business, which includes your employment, then you’re entitled to threefold damages.”

But several of the court’s conservatives, including Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh, appeared concerned about opening a floodgate of RICO lawsuits for relatively minor injuries.