Submitted: October 15, 2007
Before BYE, BOWMAN, and SMITH, Circuit Judges.
Craig Outdoor Advertising, Inc., Midwest Outdoor Media, LLC, Patriot Outdoor, LLC (collectively “Plaintiffs”), and Curtis Massood, the former owner of a small billboard company, filed this lawsuit in which they alleged that Viacom Outdoor (“Viacom”), and Viacom executives Wally Kelly and Harold Gustin (collectively “individual Defendants”)*fn1 perpetrated a scheme by which Viacom and its employees and consultants would represent to businesses and individuals interested in constructing billboards on railroad property that Viacom was acting as the agent for those railroads with respect to billboard construction and that applications to build on railroad property would be evaluated on a first-come, first-served basis. In reality, however, Viacom employees or consultants reviewed each site application to determine if Viacom wanted to develop the site itself. Plaintiffs and Massood alleged that Viacom misrepresented and omitted information about the review process in an effort to induce them to identify billboard sites. Viacom then appropriated certain sites and covered up the scheme, for example, by falsely stating that another entity had applied for the site first or by failing to forward the site application to the railroad. Plaintiffs and Massood asserted claims for relief based on both Missouri and Connecticut state law and the civil remedies provisions of the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970, Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations, (“RICO”). 18 U.S.C. §§ 1961–68. Prior to trial, the District Court granted Viacom summary judgment on the RICO claims asserted by Plaintiffs against the company and dismissed all of Massood’s claims. A jury returned verdicts in favor of Plaintiffs on their state-law claims and on their RICO claims against Kelly and Gustin. Viacom, Kelly, and Gustin appeal and Plaintiffs and Massood cross-appeal. The parties raise numerous claims, each of which we will address in turn.
