Judge dismisses suit brought by fired Hawthorne veterinarian

A U.S. District Court judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a former regulatory veterinarian at Hawthorne Race Course in Illinois, ruling that her claims did not establish direct harm or qualify for adjudication under the broad anti-conspiracy law known as RICO.

The judge, Jeffrey Cummings of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, dismissed the lawsuit from Dr. Christine Tuma without prejudice, meaning that she can re-file the suit without alleging harm under the complaints he dismissed.

Tuma, who was fired in July 2023, filed the suit in September of last year, alleging that Hawthorne officials overruled several of her diagnoses of horses and allowed them to run despite her opinion that they were unfit to race. In the suit, Tuma alleged that her dismissal was part of an “ongoing criminal enterprise” that allowed Hawthorne to “maximize field size” for wagering purposes.

Hawthorne had asked the judge to dismiss the suit in a response last year, arguing that her claims were baseless. The response said that Tuma was terminated as part of a “companywide reduction” and was unrelated to her performance.

Cummings wrote that Tuma’s allegations could not be adjudicated under the RICO Act. She was seeking damages based on her “loss of income, benefits, career opportunities, humiliation, and emotional distress.”

“Even presuming that Tuma’s loss of her job was an injury to her business or property for civil RICO purposes, she has failed to allege that this injury was directly caused by the alleged racketeering activity,” Cummings wrote. He said the dismissal of the claims was “not a close call.”

“The Supreme Court has repeatedly emphasized the importance of a direct relation between the injury asserted and the conduct alleged,” Cummings wrote.

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