The U.S. Supreme Court is hearing the case of a trucker who was fired for failing a cannabis-CBD drug test

The law’s civil provisions allow treble damages for successful lawsuits by “any person injured in his business or property by certain acts of a defendant.”

Horn, suffering from injuries sustained in a truck accident, purchased a CBD tincture called Dixie in 2012

After a random drug test ordered by his employer found THC in his system, Horn was fired from his job as a trucking contractor, which he had held for more than a decade. Horn has said he is not a marijuana user.

Some of the justices seemed receptive to the company’s argument that Horn’s job loss was not the kind of business harm that Congress was trying to protect itself from by passing the RICO Act.

Conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh expressed concern that it could be made too easy for plaintiffs to file civil RICO lawsuits by simply characterizing certain personal injuries as injuries to business or property.

“This would be a dramatic, truly radical change in the way tort suits are brought across the United States,” Kavanaugh told Horn’s attorney Easha Anand, referring to the personal injury law known as torts.

“And we would expect clearer guidance from Congress,” Kavanaugh added.

Lisa Blatt, the attorney who represented Medical Marijuana, argued that continuing Horn’s lawsuit would open the door for plaintiffs to pursue a federal lawsuit out of personal injury claims that might be better handled under state law.

“It is completely unbelievable that Congress has federalized every error related to RICO,” Blatt said, referring to RICO crimes such as embezzlement, extortion or mail fraud.

But questions raised by some judges suggested they might be inclined to allow Horn’s civil RICO lawsuit to proceed.

“If you suffer harm when you lose your job, then you have also suffered harm in your business, right?” asked liberal Justice Elena Kagan Blatt.

“I think what I’m saying is the simplest and clearest interpretation of this statutory language is that it doesn’t differentiate based on what causes the harm,” Kagan added. “It just says that if you are harmed in any way that relates to your business or your property, including the loss of a job, as a result of (extortion activity), then you are entitled to triple the damages, that you would otherwise suffer.

Horn and his wife, Cindy, filed a lawsuit in New York state federal court in 2015 seeking damages and alleging, among other things, that Medical Marijuana and affiliated companies violated the provisions of RICO. Horn had the tincture independently tested in a lab, which confirmed the product contained THC.

The lawsuit alleges a “pattern of racketeering activity” by the companies – including violations of the federal Controlled Substances Act as well as mail fraud and wire fraud – caused Horn business or property damage in the form of his firing.

A federal judge ruled against Horn’s civil RICO lawsuit. The New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the judge’s decision, leading to Medical Marijuana appealing to the Supreme Court.

The judges are expected to rule on the case by the end of June.

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