8th Circuit revives RICO claims against condo association

A district court erred when it dismissed a plaintiff’s Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act claims because it failed to consider the “separate accrual” rule where new RICO claims accrue each time the plaintiff suffers an independent injury on account of the defendant’s wrongful conduct, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on November 5.

Dennis Geivett purchased a condominium in St. Louis in 2012. Parkside Condominium Association required monthly assessment fees, which he prepaid in 2012.

Beginning in 2013, Geivett’s daughter, who lived in the condominium, did not receive notices about the fees and did not pay them. In August 2013, Parkside, by its former attorney, filed a Petition for Assessments debt collection lawsuit against Geivett for not paying condominium fees.

Geivett settled the suit for $2,065.50.

In January 2014, Parkside’s manager filed a $522 lien against the condominium unit for unpaid fees from October to December 2013. Geivett believed the 2013 settlement included those fees.

Parkside then filed a second Petition suit against Geivett. He counterclaimed against Parkside and its former law firm, arguing that the second Petition suit wrongly included unpaid fees that were not only incorrectly calculated but also contradicted Parkside’s ledger as of February 2014.

In June 2017, the state court dismissed Geivett’s counterclaim against the law firm and in October 2022, dismissed Parkside’s second Petition suit for failure to state a cause of action.

Parkside’s attorney filed a second amended petition but dismissed it a week later, stating that it was preparing a release of the lien. A release was never prepared.

Geivett requested a “recordable statement” of what he owed Parkside. Parkside replied that he owed $50,973.50 for assessments, attorney’s fees and other charges. In August 2023, Parkside reported this amount was $65,352.96.

In February 2024, Geivett contracted to sell his condominium for $100,000. Parkside’s registered agent told the title company that the condominium unit had delinquent or unpaid assessments of $65,778.45.

Geivett sued Parkside, AMC Management, LLC and Parkside’s attorneys in state court, alleging 34 state claims and four RICO violations. He alleged the defendants devised a scheme to defraud, culminating in the 2013 and 2014 lawsuits against him. In addition, he claimed that the defendants targeted condominium owners owing monthly assessments, suing them to wrongfully obtain money or property.

The defendants removed the case to federal court and moved to dismiss. The district court granted the motion, ruling that the RICO violations were barred by the statute of limitations.

Geivett appealed.

In a per curiam opinion authored by Judges Duane Benton, L. Steven Grasz and Jonathan A. Kobes, the court reversed.

The statute of limitations for a civil claim under RICO is four years, the court explained, and a RICO cause of action accrues when the plaintiff discovers, or should have discovered, his injury.

But the 8th Circuit also recognizes a “separate accrual” rule: new RICO claims accrue each time the plaintiff suffers an independent injury on account of the defendant’s wrongful conduct.

“Injuries that are ‘of the same type, flow from the same source, and are part of one cognizable pattern of conduct’ do not trigger a new limitations period,” the court wrote. “The district court dismissed Geivett’s RICO claims because he allegedly suffered some injuries outside the limitations period. The district court erred by failing to consider whether any of Geivett’s RICO claims accrued separately within the limitations period.”

The court reversed dismissal and remanded to the district court.

Saint Louis attorney James E. Hullverson, Jr., of Hullverson & Hullverson, who represented Geivett, did not respond to a request for comment.

Lori R. Koch of Pomerantz & Sherman in Saint Louis, who represented AMC Management, declined to comment on the case.

The case is Geivett v. AMC Management, LLC, No. 24-3093.