Cite as: 529 U. S. 494 (2000)
Stevens, J., dissenting
recognize that, at least in certain instances, the agreement itself can give rise to liability for civil conspiracy.6 And of the nine cases cited in which liability is rejected for failure to state a cause of action, four are the opinions of intermediate state courts and one is the three-page opinion of a Federal District Court—hardly strong evidence of the "widely accepted" premise on which the Court relies. Ante, at 501. Thus, the cases cited by the Court do not at all place its conclusion on any firm footing.
Nevertheless, based on its understanding of the common law, the Court concludes that "a RICO conspiracy plaintiff [must] allege injury from an act that is analogous to an 'ac[t] of a tortious character.' " Ante, at 505. Even assuming that statement is correct, though, it is not at all clear to me why an overt act that "injure[s]" a person "in his business or property" (as § 1964(c) requires) would not be "analogous to an 'ac[t] of a tortious character' " simply because the overt act is not listed in § 1961(1). Nor do I understand why the
stam v. Welch, 705 F. 2d 472, 487 (CADC 1983) ("[A] conspiracy requires: an agreement to do an unlawful act or a lawful act in an unlawful manner; an overt act in furtherance of the agreement by someone participating in it; and injury caused by the act").
6 See Cohen v. Bowdoin, 288 A. 2d 106, 110, n. 4 (Me. 1972) ("We are aware that in particular extraordinary circumstances there has been recognized the existence of a separate self-sufficient and independent tort of 'conspiracy,' as a substantive basis of civil liability"); Halberstam, 705 F. 2d, at 477, n. 7; W. Prosser, Law of Torts § 46, p. 293 (4th ed. 1971) ("[I]t now seems generally agreed . . . that there are certain types of conduct, such as boycotts, in which the element of combination adds such a power of coercion, undue influence or restraint of trade, that it makes unlawful acts which one man alone might legitimately do. It is perhaps pointless to debate whether in such a case the combination or conspiracy becomes itself the tort, or whether it merely gives a tortious character to the acts done in furtherance of it. On either basis, it is the determining factor in liability"). See also Snipes v. West Flagler Kennel Club, Inc., 105 So. 2d 164, 165-167, and n. 1 (Fla. 1958), where the court upheld liability exclusively on precisely that premise.
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