Full opinion text
MEMORANDUM and ORDER WEINSTEIN, Senior District Judge. TABLE OF CONTENTS I INTRODUCTION..321 II FACTS. 323 A. Asbestos. 323 1. Uses and Production.323 2. Exposure.323 3. Health Hazards.324 4. Industry Coverup.324 5. Litigation and Settlement.'..325 B. Tobacco .326 1. Smoking.326 2. Synergy.327 3. Conspiracy.328 a. Synergy Knowledge.328 b. Synergy Coverup.■.328 c. Broader Tobacco Conspiracy.329 d. Tobacco’s Enterprises.332 III SUMMARY JUDGMENT STANDARD.333 IV SECTION 1962(c)-RELATED CLAIMS.333 A. Causation.333 1. Factual Causation: Reliance.333 a. Reliance Showing.335 b. Application to RICO Settlement and Litigation Actions.335 c. Application to RICO Direct Payment Action .337 2. Proximate Causation: Remoteness .338 a. Incorporation of Proximate Causation into Civil RICO.338 b. Holmes.339 c. Laborers Local 17.340 d. Application to RICO Direct Payment Action .342 i. Indirectness and Intervening Forces.342 ii. Duplicative Recovery and Complex Damage Apportionment Co iii. Ability of More Direct Victims to Remedy Violation. co ^ CR iv. Specific Intent. co ^ <3^ B.Statute of Limitations. co -J V SECTION 1962(a)-RELATED CLAIM .348 A. ”Re-investment” Injury .348 B. Other Investment Injuries .349 1. Maintenance of Public Relations Machine.350 2. Maintenance of Litigation Machine.350 a. Noerr-Pennington Doctrine.350 b. Application of Noerr-Pennington Principles.351 VI SECTION 1962(d) -RELATED CLAIMS.353 VIISTATE FRAUD ACTION.’.353 A. Choice of Law.353 B. Fraud.354 C. Statute of Limitations.355 D. Certification.356 VIII PREEMPTION .356 IX CONCLUSION.357 I INTRODUCTION Defendants have moved for summary judgment. For the reasons indicated below, the cause will be tried. In recent years, each branch of the federal government has addressed the sweeping allegations of the massive, sustained, and unprecedented fraud of the tobacco companies and their related entities (Tobacco) against the American public. Congress has called the Chief Executives of the leading Cigarette manufacturers before it to testify. It has also subpoenaed thousands of documents. Releasing them on the internet has contributed much of the factual underpinning to the present case. The Executive branch has responded by filing a multi-billion dollar civil-RICO action seeking recovery of monies spent on health costs for the indigent and the elderly because of tobacco use. Its attempt to exercise control over tobacco products by the Federal Food and Drug Administration on the ground that cigarettes were a device for delivering a deleterious drug— nicotine — was rejected by the Supreme Court on the ground that the FDA lacks statutory authority to regulate tobacco as a “drug.” See FDA v. Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp., — U.S. -, 120 S.Ct. 1291, 1315-16, — L.Ed.2d -■, (2000). All nine Justices of the Court recognized the enormous national health problems created by the use of cigarettes and other tobacco products. Id. at 1296 (majority: “This case involves one of the most troubling public health problems facing our Nation today: the thousands of premature deaths that occur each year because of tobacco use.”); id. at 1321 (Breyer, J., dissenting: “[E]ven though the [Tobacco] companies refused to acknowledge publicly (until only very recently) that the nicotine in cigarettes has chemically induced, and habit-forming, effects, the FDA recently has gained access to solid, documentary evidence proving that cigarette manufacturers have long known tobacco produces these effects within the body through the metabolizing of chemicals, and that they have long wanted their products to produce those effects in this way.” (internal citations omitted)); id. at 1329 (Breyer, J., dissenting: “[T]he FDA obtained evidence sufficient to prove the necessary ‘intent’ .... This evidence, which first became available in the early 1990’s, permitted the agency to demonstrate that the tobacco companies knew nicotine achieved ... habituating effects through chemical ... means, even at a time when the companies were publicly denying such knowledge.”). The case at hand is only one of the many tobacco litigations underway in the state and federal court systems. Plaintiffs are trustees of a Trust established in 1988 as a result of the bankruptcy of the Johns-Manville Corporation. The Manville Corporation lacked assets to pay judgments which would have been rendered against it for injuries suffered by millions of people exposed to its asbestos products. The Trust’s primary responsibility is to ensure that those suffering asbestos-related injuries that may have been caused by Manville’s products (Claimants) receive appropriate compensation. Plaintiffs seek money damages from the major tobacco product manufacturers and related entities for them alleged role in contributing to the Trust’s Claimants asbestos-related injuries. The essence of their contentions is that defendants misled the public, including the Trust’s beneficiaries, the asbestos industry, and the Trust, through a decades long campaign of misrepresentations, misinformation and intentional omissions. The initial complaint, filed on December 31, 1997 (“Falise I”), was dismissed on November 2, 1999 for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. See Falise v. American Tobacco Co., 241 B.R. 48 (E.D.N.Y.1999). The present case (Falise II) was filed on November 11, 1999, predicated on the same set of facts as Falise I, but relying on the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act (“RICO”), as a basis for subject matter jurisdiction. See 18 U.S.C. § 1964(c). Plaintiffs advance a number of theories supporting a cause-of-action against the defendants. Four are based on alleged racketeering activity. See 18 U.S.C. § 1964(c). I)Tobacco engaged in a fraudulent scheme of misinformation directed at the Trust to cover-up or minimize its contributing liability for the Claimants’ injuries, causing the Trust to erroneously assume Tobacco’s share of the Claimants’ injuries and to settle claims for a greater percentage of damages than that for which the Trust is responsible, see id. § 1962(c) (“RICO Settlement Action”); II) Tobacco engaged in a fraudulent scheme of misinformation directed at the Trust to cover-up or minimize its contributing liability to the Claimants’ injuries, causing the Trust not to implead Tobacco in asbestos-injury litigations, see id. § 1962(c) (“RICO Litigation Action”); III) Tobacco engaged in a fraudulent scheme of misinformation directed at asbestos workers (and the population at large) to encourage asbestos workers to smoke (and not to cease smoking). This caused more asbestos workers to contract asbestos-related diseases, and more severe asbestos-related diseases, than they otherwise would have, forcing the Trust to pay larger sums from its fixed and limited corpus to Claimants who smoked, adversely affecting its ability to fulfill its fiduciary responsibility to all present and future Claimants for whom it will have less funds available to compensate under its matrix payment plan, see id. § 1962(c) (“RICO Direct Payment Action”); and IV) Tobacco invested racketeering income and proceeds from a RICO enterprise directed at the population generally to fund a scheme (see supra ¶ III) to cause the Trust to make greater payments than it otherwise would have, see id. § 1962(a) (“RICO Investment Ac-, tion”). A fifth theory is based on fraud under state common-law. Plaintiffs contend Tobacco engaged in a fraudulent scheme directed at asbestos-workers causing more serious asbestos-related injuries due to a smoking-asbestos synergy than would have been caused by asbestos alone, and that Tobacco did this in part with the specific intent to shift its share of the asbestos-related injuries to asbestos entities, including the Trust. (“State Fraud Action”). Defendants moved for summary judgment on all claims. Defendants also moved for dismissal based on preemption by the federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act. See 15 U.S.C. §§ 1331-40. By a preliminary order dated April 3, 2000, this court denied summary judgment with respect to the RICO Direct Payment Action, the RICO Investment Action, and the State Fraud Action. See Falise v. American Tobacco Co., 91 F.Supp.2d 525 (E.D.N.Y.2000). Summary judgment was granted with respect to the RICO Settlement Action and the RICO Litigation Action. Id. This memorandum and order justifies those rulings, and grants summary judgment with respect to the RICO Investment Action. II FACTS If plaintiffs allegations are true, this case represents the intersection of massive conspiracies to conceal the synergistic dangers of asbestos exposure and tobacco smoking from asbestos workers who were likely to be fatally affected by the combined inhalation of the two. A. Asbestos 1. Uses and Production Asbestos is a general term referring to two main varieties of natural, fibrous minerals, amphibole and serpentine. They were extensively used in a multitude of industrial and consumer products in the late-nineteenth century and throughout much of the twentieth century. Several properties distinguish asbestos from other minerals and explain its widespread and extensive use: its tensile strength, its heat and acid resistance, and its flexibility. Asbestos lined partitions in schools, office buildings, hospitals and ships.... Other well-known uses of asbestos included: insulation around cold or hot air or liquid conductors or boilers, noise absorption in wall insulation and acoustic tile ceilings, covering of structural steelwork of large buildings to guard against fire and linings of brakes. Its dielectric properties resulted in many electrical equipment uses; it had such applications as ironing board covers, stove linings and table pads. Theatrical audiences were once comforted by the thought that huge asbestos curtains between the audience and stage protected against the spread of fire. Cement products constituted the single largest service for asbestos in the United States; asbestos-containing cement was utilized as filler in resins, plastics, grouts and even cosmetics. Asphalt surfaced roads occasionally contained asbestos fibers as well. These wide-ranging applications plus ample and accessible supplies of asbestos account for its pervasiveness in many sectors of the American economy during the twentieth century. In re Joint Eastern and Southern District Asbestos Litigation, 129 B.R. 710, 736 (E.D.N.Y.1991). From the 1920s until the 1970s Johns-Manville was the largest manufacturer of asbestos-containing products and the largest supplier of asbestos in the United States. During its heyday, Manville marketed more than 500 different lines of products manufactured at the company’s 33 plants and mines located throughout the United States and Canada. The company boasted in an article in Asbestos Magazine in 1970 that “Johns-Manville participates in almost every facet of the Asbestos Industry and is the largest supplier of asbestos in the United States.” 2. Exposure The massive and widespread use of asbestos in industrial, commercial and household contexts exposed millions to its insidious dangers. The primary groups at risk were those in the plants which produced asbestos products and those in the field laboring with or in close proximity to asbestos while it was cut and installed. In the naval shipyards, for example, workers of all trades in small compartments breathed the heavy asbestos dust created by insulators and boilermakers and brought it home on their clothing [exposing their families to it]. Carpenters and metal workers who may not have worked directly with asbestos were nonetheless heavily exposed to its hazards. Workers in the oil fields of Texas, the tire factories of the mid-West and the shipyards of our coasts as well as in building construction in all parts of the country were at some degree of risk. Id. As a result of the greater awareness of dangers and new government regulations, use of asbestos generally ceased in the United States in the early 1970s. Because of the long latency of asbestos diseases, asbestos-related deaths will continue for decades to come. “Insidious asbestos is slowly working in the lungs of millions of workers and others.” Id. at 737. 3. Health Hazards Asbestos fibers cause injuries varying from fatal malignancies to mild scarring of the lung tissue. Four disease processes are associated with exposure: asbestosis, mesothelioma, cancers (including lung cancer), and pleural plaques. Asbestosis refers to a pulmonary insufficiency caused by a destruction of air sacs in healthy lung tissue. It is progressive and incurable. The disease substantially impairs breathing capacity, dramatically reducing life expectancy. Evidence suggests that persons with asbestosis have an increased risk of contracting lung cancer and other malignancies. Malignant mesothelioma is a rare neoplasm arising in the mesothelial cells that make up the pleural, pericardial and peritoneal membranes enclosing the lungs, heart and abdomen respectively. Though the disease may not develop for upwards of forty years from the period of exposure, once manifested it is often fatal within two years. In addition to mesothelioma, other cancers such as pulmonary and bronchogenic malignancies are caused by asbestos exposure. Additional cancers traceable to asbestos may include those of the stomach, rectum, colon, larynx, pharynx and mouth. Finally, asbestos exposure may cause pleural plaques, which is the thickening or calcification of the pleural tissue surrounding the lung. These asbestos-associated diseases are progressive and incurable. They appear to correlate with duration and intensity of exposure to asbestos fibers. The greater the exposure, the sooner the disease can be expected to appear; conversely, shorter or less intense exposure translates into a longer latency period. Occupational exposures that occurred in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s are generally considered excessive with a relatively short latency period of fifteen to thirty years. In contrast, those environmentally exposed and exposed through household contacts may only manifest injury forty or more years later.' Id. at 741. Cessation of exposure will not halt or cure the disease. 4. Industry Coverup In the early 1900s, medical and scientific research began to reveal convincing evidence of the health hazards associated with asbestos. “By 1935 asbestosis was ‘widely recognized as a moral threat affecting a large faction of those who had regularly worked with the material’ ” Id. at 738. In the late 1930s and throughout the 1940s, reports circulated revealing a strong association between asbestos and lung cancer. Johns-Manville and other manufacturers of asbestos products ignored or attempted to conceal this information from the public. For example, • In 1932, Johns-Manville sought to have material alterations made to a study of textile workers incidence of disease from asbestos. For instance, a sentence which stated “ ‘however, it is possible for uncomplicated asbestosis to result fatally’ ” was allegedly deleted from the published report. (Id. at 743). • In 1936 Johns-Manville and others actively censored the information disseminated by the Saranac laboratories, preventing the Saranac scientists from promptly disclosing adverse scientific data. • Johns-Manville sought to preclude publications in Asbestos Magazine of information concerning the hazards posed by asbestos dust. • In 1933, resolving suits brought against the company by eleven employees alleging health injuries from exposure to asbestos, Johns-Manville explicitly conditioned settlements on plaintiffs’ attorneys not bringing similar claims against the company in the future. 5. Litigation and Settlement Beginning in the late-1970s, suits were brought by asbestos workers against John-Manville and other asbestos manufactures. By 1980, thousands of such suits were pending against Manville in both state and federal courts. The substantial bulk of these suits were brought by workers whose occupations involved direct exposure to or handling of asbestos or asbestos-containing products. A second large category of claims consisted of those who worked alongside such workers and consequently inhaled asbestos fibers. Faced with a threatened avalanche of additional cases, Manville filed a petition for bankruptcy; further litigation was stayed. The negotiations and appeals during the bankruptcy proceedings took some six years. Finally, in November 1988, Manville’s bankruptcy plan was confirmed. As part of the plan, a Trust was established to provide compensation to the victims of asbestos-related injuries caused by Manville. The Trust is a New York grant- or trust created to permit the fair, equitable and efficient evaluation, processing and satisfaction of claims against Manville, including claims for personal injury and wrongful death. The Trust’s purpose is to “deliver fair, adequate and equitable compensation to claimants, whether known or unknown.” Manville’s equity and assets, along with a substantial infusion of cash from insurance companies were sources of the Trust’s corpus. Provided in the Plan were (1) a system of payment to current claimants on a first-in, first-out basis, according priority to pre-bankruptcy petition cases, and (2) payments to future claimants. As it tried to litigate and settle claims, the Trust’s assets were being consumed by huge transactional costs of some $1,000,000 a week, settlements at much higher values than predicted and a huge influx of claims, far beyond what had been projected. The Plan assumed that during the life of the Trust between 83,000 and 100,000 claims were likely to be filed and the Plan called for full payment to all Claimants based on that estimate. By 1991, the Trust had already received nearly double the predicted claims. As a result, the Trust was effectively insolvent almost as soon as it opened its doors. To overcome the Trust’s deficiencies, negotiations were conducted through a class action against the Trust to revise the payment plan. See In re Joint Eastern and Southern District Asbestos Litig., 129 B.R. 710 (E.D.N.Y.1991), vacated, 982 F.2d 721 (2d Cir.1992), mod. on rehearing, 993 F.2d 7 (2d Cir.1993); see also 772 F.Supp. 1380 (E.D.N.Y.1991) (computation of damages); 769 F.Supp. 85 (E.D.N.Y.1991) (consolidation); 120 B.R. 648 (E. & S.D.N.Y.1990) (class certification); 123 B.R. 7 (E.D.N.Y. 1990) (joint administration); 134 F.R.D. 32 (E.D.N.Y.1990) (power over state cases); 737 F.Supp. 735 (1999) (special master ethics); 726 F.Supp. 426 (E.D.N.Y.1989) (computation of damages). After extensive hearings and appeals — taking into account the needs of future claimants as well as fiscal realities — payments recommenced under a new plan (“TDP”) in 1996. Payments under the TDP were to be based on a matrix. In view of the limited remaining assets of the Trust and the projected number of claims, they were restricted to 10% of the value of claims fixed by the TDP. In 1994, Congress passed a special law to ensure that the assets of the former asbestos corporations, including Johns-Manville, were not subject to claims after bankruptcy. See Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1994, Pub.L. 103-394, § 111(a), 108 Stat. 4106, 4113-4117 (codified at 11 U.S.C. § 524(g) & (h)). Present and future Claimants seeking recovery for delicts of Manville can look to only the Trust. B. Tobacco The Trust, through its trustees, has now brought suit against Tobacco. The essence of the Trust’s action is that its liabilities are substantially due to Tobacco’s alleged misconduct in suppressing and concealing material information, and disseminating misinformation, about the unique health risks posed to those who both smoked and were occupationally exposed to asbestos. The trustees alleged: For years, [Tobacco has] known that smoking, an activity indisputably dangerous to human health in and of itself, is even more lethal to individuals occupationally exposed to asbestos. With full knowledge of this deadly synergy [resulting from asbestos inhalation and tobacco use], and in anticipation of the assertion of claims against the tobacco industry arising therefrom, the defendants adopted a strategy aimed at shifting their synergy-related liabilities to the Trust and to similarly situated [asbestos] entities. The direct and proximate result of such conduct has been egregious harm to the Trust in the form of staggering liabilities, properly attributable to the defendants, arising from claims asserted against the Trust based on illnesses caused or exacerbated by cigarettes. Am. Compl. ¶ 1. 1. Smoking The dangers of smoking are now beyond dispute. The statistics are staggering. Smoking causes some 85% of all lung cancer in America. More than 80% of deaths from pulmonary diseases such as bronchitis and emphysema are traced to smoking. Smoking leads to tens of thousands of deaths annually from cardiovascular diseases such as strokes, heart attacks, and aortic aneurysms. Smoking can also lead to cancer of the kidneys, bladder, brain, and larynx. Statistics from the Centers for Disease control indicate that annually, cigarette smoking leads to premature deaths of more than 400,000 Americans. See Am. Compl. ¶ 61. This figure exceeds the combined totals for deaths resulting from automobile accidents, AIDS, alcohol, illegal drugs, homicide, suicide, and fires. Cigarettes contain hazardous levels of over 40 known chemical carcinogens. See Am. Compl. ¶ 62. These carcinogens are inhaled into the lungs of smokers, substantially contributing to “premature morbidity and mortality for most of those exposed.” Am. Compl. ¶ 63. Nicotine is the primary ingredient in cigarettes leading to continued use. It creates the “smoking high” smokers experience while progressively addicting them to cigarettes. It has been recognized as addictive by the Food and Drug Administration, the Surgeon General’s Office, the World Health Organization and the American Medical Association. Plaintiffs claim that cigarettes “have been designed and manufactured by the defendants to induce and/or enhance nicotine addiction, with the goal of ensuring lifetime self-administration of lethal doses of harmful substances.” Am. Compl. ¶ 64. They identify the following specific acts by defendants to support their contention: • Manipulation of nicotine levels; • Control of pH-mediated nicotine impact; • Specification of flavorants, additives and smoke chemistry and other physical characteristics to facilitate rapid and repeated product use; and • Use of high-porosity paper, low-pressure drop filtration, rapid-burning tobacco and other physical characteristics to facilitate rapid and repeated product use. See Am. Compl. ¶ 64. 2. Synergy Substantial evidence exists that smoking sharply increases the risks and severity of asbestos-related diseases by working “syn-ergistically” with asbestos. The combined effect of tobacco use and asbestos exposure on human health is far greater than the sum of their individual effects. Various epidemiological studies appear to support this synergistic effect. “Epidemiological studies seek to identify the ‘patterns of disease occurrence in populations and factors which influence those patterns.’ ” Nancy Lee Firak, The Developing Policy Characteristics of Cause-In-Fact: Alternative Forms of Liability, Epidemiological Proof and Trans-Scientific Issues, 63 Temp. L.Rev. 311, 328 (1990) (internal quotation marks omitted). Research has revealed a statistically significant correlation between asbestos-diseases and combined exposure to asbestos and tobacco smoke. For example, Dr. Pie-ro Mustacchi concluded in 1996 that the incidence of lung cancer from combined asbestos-smoking exposure was 53 times that normally occurring in unexposed populations, and over 10 times that occurring in non-smokers who were occupationally exposed to asbestos. See Piero Mustacchi, M.D., Lung Cancer Latency and Asbestos Liability, 17 J. Legal Med. 277, 280-97 (1996) (study conducted on 17,800 North American insulators and asbestos workers over a twenty-year period). The chart below details his conclusions; the magnitude of the correlation is reflected in the “relative risk” factor, with a relative risk of one indicating there is generally no causal association. Relative Risk of Disease From Smoking-Asbestos Synergy GROUP RELATIVE RISK Non-smokers/No occupa- 1 tional asbestos exposure_ Non-smokers/Occupation- 5 al asbestos exposure_ Smokers/No occupational 11 asbestos exposure_ Smokers/Occupational as- 53 bestos exposure See id.; see also Berry Newhouse, M.C., & M. Turok, Combined Effects of Asbestos Exposure and Smoking on Mortality from Lung Cancer in Factory Workers, 2 Lancet 476, 478 (1972) (concluding that the synergistic relative risk from smoking and asbestos exposure was 50 times that occurring in unexposed populations). In addition to this evidence indicating a synergistic effect between tobacco and asbestos causing lung cancer, plaintiffs purport to have scientific evidence indicating that a similar synergistic effect occurs for asbestosis and pleural plagues disease. Cigarette smoking not only is a substantial contributing factor to lung cancer in persons occupationally exposed to asbestos, but also increases the frequency of occurrence and severity of [asbestosis], the rate of progression and mortality from [asbestosis], and the frequency of occurrence of pleural abnormalities among workers exposed to asbestos. Am. Compl. ¶ 45. The increased financial burden allegedly borne by the Trust from smoking-asbestos synergy are enormous. According to plaintiffs, “[estimates indicate that at least 80% of all persons occupationally exposed to asbestos also smoked [and][a]lmost without exception, asbestos workers who did not smoke were exposed to secondhand smoke.” Am. Compl. ¶ 43. Defendants’ internal memorandum indicate that “by virtue of the demographics of the workforce, at least 80 and, in some case, 90 percent of the workers who were exposed to asbestos also smoked.” Id. 3. Conspiracy a. Synergy Knowledge Plaintiffs contend that Tobacco has “long known and secretly admitted that smoking and occupational exposure to asbestos combine to form a lethal synergy.” Am. Compl. ¶ 12. Based on internal company documents, Tobacco’s knowledge appears to reach back to at least the 1960s. See Am. Compl. ¶ 46. Plaintiffs rely on a number of internal memorandum, including a November 22, 1978 document drafted by Janet Brown, an attorney for American Tobacco, which acknowledges that “the risk of lung cancer in a non-smoking asbestos worker is elevated over that of a non-smoking non-asbestos worker but the risk of a smoking asbestos worker is enormously inflated over that of a non-smoking asbestos worker.” Am. Compl. ¶ 46. A July 12, 1980 memorandum from Peter Lee, a former employee of the Tobacco Research Council, which was effectively supported and operated by all the defendants, stated: It is ... difficult to doubt that the joint effect of smoking and asbestos on lung cancer death rates is synergistic ... [T]he enormous lung cancer rates in asbestos workers who smoke are justification enough for the facts to be brough[t] forcefull to the attention of asbestos workers .... The health warning on the packet ... may be [an] adequate safeguard to ensure the average smoker knows the problems he may face. Whether this is so for the asbestos worker is very much open to doubt. The tobacco industry should consider whether it might take further steps to ensure that the lethal smoking/asbestos combination is avoided. Am. Compl. ¶ 47. As further evidence, plaintiffs identify an August 7, 1968 Philip Morris memorandum from H. Wakeham suggesting a study be undertaken “to define in some manner those elements of the population who, like asbestos workers, are more likely to encounter serious risks by smoking and who, therefore, should be discouraged from indulging in the habit.” Am. Compl. ¶ 46 (emphases added). A May 27, 1968 Philip Morris internal document noted: A number of experiments were conducted among workers who work in the asbestos factories. Although asbestos also produces a gas detrimental to the lungs, it was found that the percentage of death among those who smoked was greater. This supports the view that the lung must first be weakened by other factors before it can develop cancer. Plfs’ Counterstatement with Respect to Defs’ Motion for Summary Judgment on All RICO Counts for Purported Lack of Direct Injury, 10 (“Plfs’ Counterstatement on Direct Injury”). Rather than reveal the lethal nature of the smoking-asbestos synergy to asbestos workers and take steps to discoui-age them from smoking, Tobacco allegedly conspired to deceive and mislead them about the dangers in order to maintain their profits, to shield themselves from costly liability, and to shift those costs to the Trust and other asbestos-related entities. As evidence, plaintiffs identify a letter dated January 26, 1977 in which Arthur Furst advised that research revealing the development of carcinomas in the lungs of mice from the “combined effects of asbestos” and a carcinogen found in tobacco should not be published. Am. Compl. ¶ 49. Tobacco never revealed such potentially lifesaving information to asbestos workers, b. Synergy Coverup In addition to failing to disclose the hazards of smoking-asbestos synergy, Tobacco allegedly took steps to affirmatively misrepresent and deny the dangers. A 1979 article published by the Tobacco Institute described synergy as a “confusing concept,” and went on to claim that asbestos workers who do not smoke face an increased cancer risk. See Am. Compl. ¶ 50. A January 10, 1979 Tobacco Institute release entitled “Smoking & Health 1964-1979: The Continuing Controversy,” eriti-eizes studies of smoking-asbestos synergy which conclude that smoking asbestos workers have increased risks of lung cancer; it states “[a]ny conclusion that it is the smoking which is responsible for the reported increased risk of lung cancer in the smoking asbestos worker is not justified on the basis of available evidence.” See Plfs’ Counterstatement on Direct Injury, at 12 (emphasis in original). “In its Position Statement on ‘Smoking and Health — General Causation,’ dated May 1, 1989, Reynolds stated that ‘it has not been scientifically proven that there is an alleged synergistic interaction between asbestos and cigarette smoke.’ ” Am. Compl. ¶48. As late as 1997 defendants continued to deny a smoking-asbestos synergy according to plaintiffs. A 1997 RJR paper entitled “Is There Synergy Between Cigarette Smoke and Asbestos For Lung Cancer” concludes: The epidemiological data on cigarette smoking and occupational exposure to asbestos do not indicate a multiplicative interaction; the data can be interpreted as smoking ‘protecting’ the asbestos worker from occupational exposure. Plfs’ Counterstatement on Direct Injury, at 12. Plaintiffs allege that not only did Tobacco publicly deny the smoking-asbestos synergy which they in fact knew to exist, but they “affirmatively targeted asbestos workers” in marketing their products. As support for this contention, plaintiffs point to evidence that defendants covertly assisted labor unions in judicially opposing a smoking ban instituted by Johns-Manville in its asbestos plants in the late 1970s. See Am. Compl. ¶ 52. Tobacco lawyers “secretly drafted the critical briefs result[ing] in the judicially mandated lifting of the smoking ban.” Id. c. Broader Tobacco Conspiracy Plaintiffs allege that the smoking-asbestos cover-up was part of a larger fraud, one that reached the whole of the American public and included manipulating nicotine levels in cigarettes to induce and sustain addiction, hiding from the public the addictive and lethal nature of cigarettes, creating the false aura of an “open controversy” on the health effects of smoking, targeting children through their advertising to increase sales, and preventing the development of a “safer cigarette.” They contend that Tobacco “understood early on that nicotine was the key to their continued success” because “smokers re-quire a certain level of nicotine from their cigarettes and that ... ‘satisfaction’ is attributable to nicotine’s effect on the body.” Am. Compl. ¶ 25. As support, plaintiffs identify a memorandum authored by a Philip Morris official in 1978 which stated, “[i]f the industry’s introduction of acceptable low-nicotine products does make it easier for dedicated smokers to quit, then the wisdom of the introduction is open to debate.” Am. Compl. ¶ 81. It is claimed that “[ijnstead of eliminating nicotine from cigarettes[,] ... [Tobacco] used their specialized knowledge of the addictive nature of nicotine in efforts to develop cigarettes which are more addictive[.]” Am. Compl. ¶ 83. For support, plaintiffs rely on evidence that “several manufacturers add ammonia compounds during the manufacturing process which inerease[s] the delivery of nicotine.” Am. Compl. ¶ 86. Plaintiffs cite to Brown & Williamson’s “own internal documents [which] reveal that it and the other cigarette manufacturers sought to use ammonia compounds precisely for the purpose of increasing nicotine delivery.” Am. Compl. ¶ 86. Despite the reality, plaintiffs’ allege, Tobacco continued to deny that it altered nicotine levels. As support, plaintiffs identify a 1994 RJR release entitled “We Do Not ‘Spike’ Our Cigarettes with Nicotine” and stating RJR does “not increase the level of nicotine in any of [its] products in order to ‘addict’ smokers.” Plfs’ Coun-terstatement on Direct Injury, at 15 & Ex. 34 (bold and underscore in original). As further support, plaintiffs point to a statement by the Vice President of the Tobacco Institute on March 27, 1994 during a live, nationally televised news program: Bob Schieffer [News commentator]: Do you take the position- — does the industry take the position that cigarettes are not addictive? Ms. Brennan Dawson [V.P., Tobacco Institute]: The industry does take that position.... [N]ot only do [the Tobacco companies] not add nicotine, but ... they don’t manipulate nicotine. So Congress has been told formally by every cigarette manufacturer in the United States that [any contrary] claim is without foundation. Ms. Dawson: Nicotine is not added during the manufacturing process. It is that simple. Plfs’ Counterstatement on Direct Injury, at 15 & Ex. 35. In addition to alleging defendants knowingly manipulated nicotine levels to foster addiction, plaintiffs allege that the Tobacco companies affirmatively sought to mislead the American public about nicotine’s addictiveness. Here plaintiffs point to a 1963 Brown & Williamson internal document declaring: “[N]icotine is addictive. We are, then, in the business of selling nicotine, an addictive drug ....” Plfs’ Coun-terstatement on Direct Injury, at 13. An April 14, 1972 RJR memorandum read: Paradoxically, the things which keep a confirmed smoker habituated and ‘satisfied’, i.e., nicotine and secondary physical and manipulative gratifications, are unknown and/or largely unexplained to the non-smoker .... We have deliberately played down the role of nicotine, hence the non-smoker has little or no knowledge of what satisfactions it may offer him, and no desire to try it. Plfs’ Counterstatement on Direct Injury, at 14. An August 24,1978 Brown & Williamson document states: “Very few consumers are aware of the effects of nicotine, i.e., its addictive nature and that nicotine is a poison .... Consumers attitudes toward nicotine will not change too greatly in the near future.” Plfs’ Counterstatement on Direct Injury, at 15 & Ex. 32. At least as late as 1994 the Tobacco companies were continuing to deny the addictiveness of nicotine. For example, turning again to the national interview of the Vice President of the Tobacco Institute: Mr. Schieffer: Why is the tobacco industry the only group that says nicotine is ... or cigarettes are not addictive? Ms. Dawson: Well, it’s not the only group of people who say that nicotine is not addictive. If you look at the definition of addiction — there are two different ones. We talk about people being ‘news junkies,’ we talk about ‘chocaholics,’ we talk about people being ‘hooked on exercise.’ That’s a very loose, jargo-ny word that — that we’ve all somehow seemed to have adopted into our lexicon. Then there’s a classical definition of addiction, which talks about withdrawal symptoms that put you in the hospital; it talks about intoxication; it talks about ruining your lifestyle .... None of those things fit nicotine or smoking. Plfs’ Counterstatement on Direct Injury, at Ex. 35. Other efforts allegedly undertaken by Tobacco to hide nicotine’s addictiveness include: • Tobacco hired Dr. Gary Huber, a Harvard University researcher, to perform biological research on nicotine. “When it became clear that Dr. Huber’s research supported the concept that nicotine was a dependence-producing substance,” he was informed by industry lawyers “that he was ‘getting too close to some things’ ” and his financial support was ultimately withdrawn, terminating his research. (Am.Compl^ 114); • Philip Morris hired Dr. Victor DeNo-ble in 1980 to study the effects of nicotine on the behavior of rats. When Dr. DeNoble discovered that nicotine met two of the hallmarks of addiction, Philip Morris instructed him to keep his research secret, even from other Philip Morris scientists. In 1983, Philip Morris went so far as to order him to withdraw from publication a research paper on nicotine’s addictive properties even though the paper had already been accepted for publication. (Am.Compl.f 116); • A 1963 [internal] report, entitled “The Fate of Nicotine in the Body,” states that nicotine “appears to be intimately connected with the phenomena of tobacco habituation [tolerance] and/or addiction.” (Am.ComplJ 122(G)). Plaintiffs also allege that the Tobacco companies conspired to create a “false aura of an ‘open controversy’ [about the dangers of smoking] despite their internal admissions” to the contrary. Plfs’ Coun-terstatement on Direct Injury, at 7. Plaintiffs contend the coverup was accomplished by “hiding and ... destroying internally sponsored scientific research on the hazards of smoking,” Am. Compl. ¶ 108, “by squelching the dissemination of such information by others,” id., and by distorting “the truth concerning the ... disease-causing effects of cigarette smoke to those persons who are exposed,” Am. Compl. ¶ 127. To support these contentions, plaintiffs identify the following: • In 1971, Tobacco, with the assistance of legal counsel, allegedly engineered and partially carried out a plan to “embarrass” E. Cuyler Hammond, the chief epidemiologist at the Department of Epidemiology and Statistics at the American Cancer Society and later coauthor of the 1979 paper on “Asbestos exposure, cigarette smoking and death rates.” (Am.ComplJ 49); • A 1970 Tobacco Institute advertisement stated: “After millions of dollars and over 20 years of research: The question about smoking and health is still a question.” (Plfs’ Counterstatement on Direct Injury, at 8); • A May 1, 1972 memorandum from Fred Panzer stated: “for nearly twenty years, this industry has employed a single strategy to defend itself on three major fronts — litigation, politics, and public opinion.... [It has] consisted] of creating doubt about the health charge without actually denying it, advocating the public’s right to smoke, without actually urging them to take up the practice.” (Plfs’ Coun-terstatement on Direct Injury, at 8-9); • Dr. Freddy Homburger, a Cambridge, MA researcher, undertook a study of smoke exposure on hamsters pursuant to a CTR grant. His grant was changed mid-study so CTR could control publication. Upon completion of his study in 1974, Dr. Homburger was allegedly told by CTR officials that the CTR “didn’t want [him] to call anything cancer” and that Dr. Homburger would “never get a penny more” if his paper was published without deleting the word “cancer.” (Am.Compl.t 113); • In January 1979, the Tobacco Institute allegedly issued a false press release stating that defendants had spent 75 million dollars on research over 20 years to learn whether smoking is harmful but that “the case against cigarettes is not satisfactorily demonstrated.” (Am.ComplJ 135); • RJR advertised in the New York Times in 1984 that “[s]tudies which conclude that smoking causes disease have regularly ignored significant evidence to the contrary.” (Am. ComplJ 137); • During an October 1983 airing of the television newscast 20/20, Ann Brow-der of the Tobacco Institute stated in response to a question about the health hazards of tobacco that “the case is still open. The jury has not come in.” When asked if cigarettes were harmful, Browder stated “[i]t may be or it may not be. We don’t know.” (Am.ComplJ 136); • In 1983, Sheldon Sommer, MD, scientific director of the CTR, testified before Congress: “Cigarette smoking has not been scientifically established to be a cause of chronic diseases, such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, or emphysema. Nor has it been shown to affect pregnancy outcome adversely.” (Am.ComplJ 145). To effectuate the massive fraudulent scheme perpetrated on the American public, the Tobacco companies are alleged to have intentionally marketed cigarettes to children — many of whom would invariably go on to work with or near asbestos products — in an effort to ensure future market demand for their product. As support for this contention, plaintiffs identify a June 1973 Philip Morris document entitled “Tobacco Marketing” which refers to children ages 15 to 19 as “the primary source of new smokers” and notes that children ages 12 to 17 have a “smoking incidence” rate of 18%. Plfs’ Counterstatement on Direct Injury, at 13. As a final prong of the scheme, defendants are alleged to have conspired to prevent the development and marketing of a “safer cigarette.” Plaintiffs contend that the Tobacco companies “were successful in discovering which specific constituents were carcinogens, and which were linked to other diseases, but kept the research secret and never reported it to the public.” Am. Compl. ¶ 72. Furthermore, both RJR and Liggett are alleged to have actually developed safer cigarettes. At least in-the case of Liggetts, the safer cigarettes were not marketed because Liggett management “felt that such a cigarette if put on the market would seriously indict them for having sold other types of cigarettes that” weren’t as safe. Am. Compl. ¶ 75. As it contemplated marketing the safer cigarette Liggett was allegedly “warned by a Philip Morris representative that, if [it] tried to market the ‘safer’ cigarette in the United States, Philip Morris would do everything in its power to try to stop it.” Am. Compl. ¶ 75. Plaintiffs also allege that the Tobacco companies agreed in a “Gentleman’s Agreement” that none of them would perform research on smoking, health, and the development of “safer cigarettes,” and that any such information then existing would be concealed. Am. Compl. ¶ 97. d. Tobacco’s Enterprises Plaintiffs contend that Tobacco’s fraudulent scheme to hide the dangers of smoking from the American people generally, and asbestos-workers particularly, grew out of a December 15, 1953 hotel meeting of the chief executive officers of Philip Morris, RJR, Lorillard, and Brown & Williamson. See Am. Compl. ¶ 92. As a result of that meeting, a joint research organization, The Tobacco Institute Research Committee (TIRC) was created. In full-page newspaper advertisement on January 4, 1954 — which ran in 448 newspapers in 258 cities and was entitled “A Frank Statement to Cigarette Smokers” — defendants stated that the TIRC would conduct and report objective and unbiased research regarding smoking and health. See Am. Compl. ¶ 92-94. In 1958 a second trade group, the Tobacco Institute, was formed as a lobbying group by the defendant manufacturers. In 1964 the TIRC changed its name to the Council for Tobacco Research-USA, Inc. (CTR) when Liggett joined. Plaintiffs contend that the TIRC, and later the CTR, along with the Tobacco Institute, were pivotal in Tobacco’s fraudulent scheme of misinformation regarding the heightened dangers of smoking-asbestos synergy and the general hazards of smoking. They allege that the research efforts undertaken through these entities “were neither disinterested nor objective,” but were “designed and employed to promote research favorable to defendants’ continued sales of their tobacco products, to suppress negative research where possible, and to attack negative research when it could not be suppressed — all in order to convince the public ... that there is no proof linking cigarette smoking to disease in humans.” Am. Compl. ¶ 99. As support for this allegation, plaintiffs point to a 1978 memorandum from a Philip Morris official characterizing CTR as “an industry shield” and referring to “the public relations value of CTR” and the importance of “the .industry continuing] to spend ... dollars on research to show that [it does not] agree that the case against smoking is closed.” Am. Compl. ¶ 101. Plaintiffs also allege that BAT, Brown & Williamson, and other BAT tobacco subsidiaries formed a research group called the BAT Research Group “for the purposes of pooling research efforts and providing BAT with scientific data regarding the health effects of smoking and the addictive nature of nicotine” “provid[ing] BAT and B & W with advice on designing cigarettes to maximize their addictive nature,” and “assisting] BAT and B & W in developing and disseminating pro-smoking propaganda.” Am. Compl. ¶ 106. The BAT Research Group allegedly worked with the TIRC (and later the CTR) and the Tobacco Institute to further Tobacco’s campaign of misinformation to asbestos workers and the population at large. In 1988, the CTR and the Tobacco Institute “were placed in receivership by a New York court based on evidence that they were ‘propaganda arms’ of the tobacco industry.” Am. Compl. ¶ 104. Both have since been shut down. Ill SUMMARY JUDGMENT STANDARD Rule 56(c) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provides that summary judgment “shall be rendered forthwith if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.” Fed. R.Civ.P. 56(c); see Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). The party seeking summary judgment “bears the initial responsibility of informing the district court of the basis for its motion,” and identifying which materials “it believes demonstrate the absence of a genuine issue of material fact.” Celotex, 477 U.S. at 323, 106 S.Ct. 2548. The burden then shifts to the nonmoving party to “set forth specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial.” Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 250, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986); see also Fed.R.Civ.P. 9(b) (“In all averments of fraud or mistake, the circumstances constituting fraud shall be stated with particularity.”). All inferences are to be drawn from the underlying facts in the light most favorable to the party opposing the summary judgment motion. Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587-88, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986). The mere existence of some peripheral factual disputes will not defeat an otherwise properly supported motion for summary judgment. Anderson, 477 U.S. at 247, 106 S.Ct. 2505. “[0]nly disputes over facts that might affect the outcome of the suit under the governing law will properly preclude the entry of summary judgment. Factual disputes that are irrelevant or unnecessary will not be counted.” Id. at 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505. IY SECTION 1962(c)-RELATED CLAIMS A. Causation 1. Factual Causation: Reliance To recover under civil RICO, a plaintiff must establish an injury to his business or property “by reason of’ the alleged racketeering activity. See Sedima, S.P.R.L. v. Imrex Co., 473 U.S. 479, 496, 105 S.Ct. 3275, 87 L.Ed.2d 346 (1985) (“[A] plaintiff only has standing if, and can only recover to the extent that, he has been injured in his business or property by the conduct constituting the violation.” (emphasis added)); Bankers Trust Co. v. Rhoades, 741 F.2d 511, 516 (2d Cir.1984), vacated and remanded on other grounds, 473 U.S. 922, 105 S.Ct. 3550, 87 L.Ed.2d 673 (1985), on remand, 859 F.2d 1096 (2d Cir.1988) (“the requirement that the injury be ‘by reason of a violation of § 1962 means that there must be a causal connection between the prohibited conduct and the plaintiffs proprietary injury. Thus, it is insufficient for a plaintiff to prove simply a violation by the defendants and a proprietary injury; it must prove that the defendant’s violation caused the injury.” (emphasis added)); Douglas E. Abrams, The Law of Civil RICO § 3.3.1, at 138 (1991) (“[Sjection 1964(c)’s ‘by reason of language requires proof that the violation caused the plaintiffs proprietary injury.”). At a minimum, the injury must have been caused in fact by the racketeering activity. See generally Dan B. Dobbs, The Law of Torts § 166 (cause in fact requirement). It must have been a “substantial factor in the sequence of responsible causation” leading to the injury at issue. County of Suffolk v. LILCO, 907 F.2d 1295, 1314 (2d Cir.1990) (emphasis added) (quoting Hecht v. Commerce Clearing House, Inc., 897 F.2d 21, 23-24 (2d Cir.1990)). When, as here, mail fraud and wire fraud are the alleged predicate acts forming the racketeering activity, justified reliance on the fraud is necessary to establish causation in fact. See, e.g., Appletree Square I v. W.R. Grace & Co., 29 F.3d 1283, 1286 (8th Cir.1994) (“In order to establish injury to business or property ‘by reason of a predicate act of mail or wire fraud, a plaintiff must establish detrimental reliance on the alleged fraudulent acts.”); Metromedia Co. v. Fugazy, 983 F.2d 350, 368 (2d Cir.1992) (“to establish the required causal connection, the plaintiff [must] ... demonstrate that the defendant’s misrepresentations were relied on.”); Grantham and Mann v. American Safety Products, 831 F.2d 596, 606 (6th Cir.1987) (failure to establish detrimental reliance); In re Sumitomo Copper Litigation, 995 F.Supp. 451, 458 (S.D.N.Y.1998) (“When the predicate acts of mail and/or fraud are alleged, ‘to establish the required causal connection, the plaintiff [is] required to demonstrate that the defendant’s misrepresentations were relied on.’ ”); see also THC Holdings Corp. v. Tishman, TMCL Corp., Civ. No. 93-5393, 1996 WL 291881, at * 4 (S.D.N.Y. May 31, 1996) (“Although detrimental reliance is not an element of mail or wire fraud claims generally, a plaintiff seeking to base RICO liability on these predicate acts must prove that its injuries are the result of reliance on the fraud.”); Arthur F. Mathews, Andrew B. Weissman, & John H. Sturc, 2 Civil RICO Litigation § 8.04[B][1], at 8-44 (2d ed.1992) [hereinafter Civil RICO Litigation] (“[Sjection 1962(c) almost certainly requires proof of reliance because in a fraud-based case, reliance is an essential aspect of showing that the injury suffered was caused by the fraud.” (emphasis added)); id. at 8-45 (“[T]he concept of reliance enters the picture in civil RICO because of its relationship to the injury causation requirement, not as an element required to prove the predicate acts.”). A RICO plaintiff may establish reliance sufficient to prove injury causation deriving from the predicate acts of mail or wire fraud in one of two ways. See Sterling Interiors Group, Inc. v. Haworth, Inc., Civ. No. 94-9216, 1996 WL 537482, at * 4 (S.D.N.Y. Sept.23, 1996). First, a plaintiff may “claim that he was the direct target of the fraudulent scheme. In that case, to plead causation, [the] plaintiff would have to allege that he himself relied on the underlying misrepresentations to his detriment.” Id. Plaintiffs RICO Settlement Action and RICO Litigation Action fall into this category. As a second possibility, a plaintiff may allege that “his injuries were indirectly but proximately caused by a fraudulent scheme directed at third parties, that is to say, the third parties’ reliance on the underlying misrepresentations.” Id. at *4; see County of Suffolk, 907 F.2d at 1311 (third-party reliance); 2 Civil RICO Litigation § 8.04[B][l][a], at 8-49 (“[I]f the defendant’s misrepresentations cause a third party to take actions causing plaintiffs injury, the factual causation link is satisfied. Whether such injury should nevertheless be deemed too remote to permit recovery under [civil RICO] is a matter of proximate causation analysis, not causation-in-fact.”). Plaintiffs’ RICO Direct Payment Action satisfies this category. a. Reliance Showing Defendants seek dismissal of plaintiffs RICO Settlement and Litigation Actions contending that plaintiffs have failed to identify a specific misrepresentation relied upon by the Trust in settling claims or in failing to implead Tobacco in the asbestos-worker suits. See Defs’ Mot. for Summ. Judgment for Lack of Direct Injury, at 25 [hereinafter “Direct Injury Motion”] (“[T]he Trust cannot identify a single public statement made by the defendants on any topic that the Trust knew about and relied on at any time in its operations.”). Defendants similarly seek dismissal of the RICO Direct Payment action asserting that the Trust cannot identify specifically what if any misrepresentations each Claimant relied on in continuing to smoke. Defendants argue these failures are fatal to each claim. Though reliance is a requirement for establishing causation where predicate acts based in fraud are alleged, the nature of the reliance is not a constant. Where the fraudulent scheme is limited in scope and specifically targeted at only one or a few individuals, organizations, or entities, the establishment of causation should require reliance on identifiable misrepresentations. See, e.g., County of Suffolk, 907 F.2d at 1311 (“In the context of this case, which involves RICO mail fraud claims, this means that it is necessary for Suffolk to demonstrate at trial that LILCO’s misrepresentations to the PSC were relied upon by the PSC.” (emphases added)); see also Metromedia, 983 F.2d at 357 (misrepresentations sent by mail directly to targeted victim). Where, however, the fraudulent scheme is targeted broadly at a large proportion of the American public the requisite showing of reliance is less demanding. Such sophisticated, broad-based fraudulent schemes by their very nature are likely to be designed to distort the entire body of public knowledge rather than to individually mislead millions of people. From the perspective of the fraudulent actors, clear efficiencies are gained by co-opting the media and other outlets of information as unwitting tools for the pervasive scheme. If plaintiffs allegations are borne out, it was crucial to the success of Tobacco’s scheme — particularly the public’s willingness to accept the misrepresentations— that “big lies” about smoking-asbestos synergy, nicotine’s addictiveness, and the inability to produce a safe cigarette appear to come not from the Tobacco entities themselves, but rather to appear as facts — -or at least open questions' — permeating the entire body of public knowledge. To require rebanee on specific misrepresentations where indirect channels of communication were integral to the success of the scheme would produce the perverse result of having the most massive and sinister fraudulent schemes be the ones that must escape civil-RICO liability. Where such a broad-based fraudulent scheme is alleged, a plaintiff in order to establish reliance for injury causation need only establish (1) that the RICO defendants intentionally engaged in a scheme to distort the body of public knowledge, (2) that the defendants were successful in doing so (e.g., a substantial factor causing the distortion), (3) that there was detrimental reliance on this distorted knowledge by an intended and foreseeable class of victims, (4) that such rebanee was reasonable in the totality of the circumstances, and (5) that the plaintiff was proximately injured by this reliance. b. Application to RICO Settlement and Litigation Actions Plaintiffs have pled with sufficient particularity allegations that, if proven true, would satisfy the first two requirements- for reliance, namely that Tobacco intentionally engaged in a scheme to distort public knowledge about synergy and the dangers of cigarettes in general, and that Tobacco was successful in effectuating the nefarious silence. With respect to the RICO Settlement and Litigation Actions, plaintiffs have not pled with sufficient particularity facts that would establish that the Trust either detrimentally relied on the distorted body of public knowledge or that, even assuming it did rely, such reliance was reasonable under the totality of the circumstances. The answers to interrogatories and depositions on behalf of the Trust belie any evidence of detrimental reliance in not im-pleading Tobacco or in establishing settlement values in the asbestos worker suits. For example, the plaintiffs admit that “perhaps” as early as May 1988, when the Trust began to negotiate claims, the Trust was aware of scientific studies concluding that there was a synergistic effect between tobacco and asbestos. See Plfs’ Resp. to Defs’ First Set of Requests to Admit, [hereinafter “Defs’ First Requests”] Request # 34. Plaintiffs also admit that “[i]f you had synergy, you’re going to have more claims and more severe claims [than if claimants had not smoked] ... and the trust knew that in 1988.” Austern Dep. 1/26/00. Plaintiffs have admitted that there is nothing new they have learned about smoking-asbestos synergy that the Trust did not know in 1988: Q. I take it from what you’re saying that there was nothing new that the trust learned about smoking or the relationship of smoking to asbestos claims that prompted the filing of the lawsuit? A. The relationship of smoking to asbestos claims? Q. Right. That prompted the filing of the lawsuit. There’s nothing new— A. Not medically. Q. Medically, scientifically, any other kind of way. There’s nothing specifically that the trust had learned that was new about smoking or the relationship of smoking to asbestos ... claims that prompted the filing of the lawsuit, correct? A. I think that’s correct. Austern Dep. 9/24/99. The Trust openly admits that it was not a lack of understanding about synergy-brought about by Tobacco’s national campaign of misinformation — that caused the Trust not to implead Tobacco, but rather a concern that it could not win in litigation against Tobacco. As David Austern, counsel for the Trust since its inception, testified: The operational decision not to sue [Tobacco] ... was a decision that I made in 1988 and in 1989 on the grounds that it was imprudent to use trust funds to bring a case where you could not find the documents to prove the case and the only way you could prove the case was to spend money in search of the documents. Austern Dep. 9/26/99 at 213. The trustees simply applied a cost-benefit analysis— likely one mandated by their fiduciary duties to preserve the corpus of the Trust — in deciding not to implead Tobacco. Plaintiffs thus far have failed to produce evidence that Tobacco’s scheme caused the Trust to “undervalue” Tobacco’s share of the Claimants’ injuries in settling suits. They have admitted that the Trust, “perhaps” as early as May 1988, was aware of “the 1985 Surgeon General Report indi-cat[ing] that the risk of lung cancer among asbestos workers was five times higher than that for workers in other industries, that said risk is 50 times higher if the asbestos worker smokes and 87 tim