In re Cody H.
This case concerns a restitution award entered following a juvenile delinquency proceeding involving Petitioner, Cody H. (“Cody“). On February 19, 2015, a family magistrate of the Circuit Court for Baltimore County (“the magistrate“) found that Cody had committed the delinquent act of assault by punching a sixteen year-old victim, Zachary F. (“Zachary“), in the face and breaking his jaw. At the disposition hearing held on April 29, 2015, the magistrate made a recommendation for a restitution award of $1,489.61 to the victim for medical expenses related to the assault. The magistrate did not award restitution for loss of earnings because the magistrate found that claim to be speculative. The State filed exceptions to the recommendation. An exceptions hearing was held before a juvenile court judge on June 15, 2015. The judge sustained the State‘s exception on the issue of restitution and imposed an additional restitution amount of $5,000 for Zachary‘s lost earnings.
Cody argues that the restitution statute,
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
On August 31, 2014, a group of high school students, including Cody and Zachary, attended a party where alcohol
The Respondent, the State of Maryland (“the State“) instituted juvenile delinquency proceedings against Cody. On behalf of Zachary, the State sought a restitution award of $1,492.61 for Zachary‘s medical expenses and $6,400.00 for Zachary‘s loss of earnings. At the adjudicatory hearing held on February 19, 2015, Cody admitted to punching Zachary but alleged provocation. The juvenile court found that Cody unlawfully assaulted Zachary.
A disposition and restitution hearing was held on April 29, 2015. At the disposition hearing, the magistrate presiding received testimony regarding Zachary‘s medical treatment and expenses and his lost earnings. Zachary testified that he was scheduled to work at Roseda Farm as part of a work-study program during the 2014-2015 school year. The program was to begin on the first day of school and to continue for approximately forty weeks. Zachary would have earned $6,400 as part of this program. Zachary testified that he was not able to participate in the program because the vibrations from farm machinery he would be required to operate would cause damage to his healing jaw. Zachary‘s father also testi
At the restitution hearing, the State introduced a letter from the office manager at Roseda Farm, Marcia Bryant, in support of Zachary‘s claim for loss of earnings. The letter read as follows:
To Whom this May Concern:
Zachery [sic] [F.] was an employee of Roseda Farm starting in August 2014. Zachery was going to be on the work study program at Hereford High School and would have continue[d] working at Roseda Farm for the 2014/2015 school year. Zachery would have worked approximately 20 hours a week for approximately 40 weeks. Zachery would have made $6,400 if he would have continued at Roseda Farm.
Sincerely,
Marcia Bryant
Office Manager
The magistrate recommended a restitution award of $1,489.61 for medical expenses and did not recommend any restitution for Zachary‘s lost earnings. Despite being persuaded that Zachary had planned to work аt Roseda Farm, and noting that Zachary‘s testimony regarding the employment was alone sufficient to reach this conclusion, the magistrate declined to recommend a restitution award for loss of earnings. The magistrate found that the claim for $6,400 in lost earnings was speculative because nothing in the record established the duration Zachary would have otherwise continued to work at Roseda Farm or that Zachary was unable to find alternative employment. Further, the magistrate noted that the loss “certainly had not yet occurred.”
The State filed exceptions to the magistrate‘s restitution order. An exceptions hearing took place on June 15, 2015 before a judge of the Circuit Court for Baltimore County, sitting as a juvenile court. The judge concluded that the State hаd established that Zachary was unable to participate in the work-study program due to injuries sustained in the assault by Cody. In response to Cody‘s argument that the loss of earn
The judge issued the following ruling:
I do think that the [magistrate] and find that the [magistrate] was clearly erroneous in finding that an Order of lost earnings in the case was speculative. The victim in the case had been employed by this employer at the rate of $8.00 an hour. That [the Roseda Farm letter] clearly demonstrates that the employer was offering continued employment to the victim, Zachary [F.], for the entire school year that he was enrolled at Hereford High, beginning in September, or they have August of 2014 for a period of forty weeks. There‘s nothing in the testimony in the transcript that as of the date of the hearing in front of Magistrate McAllister, which was April the 29th of 2015, that at any point in time he was able to go back to work. I‘ll reduce the claim based on the fact that at least through April the 29th he was unable to work, so I‘m going to give him the four months of April, through April, from the beginning of September through the end of the year. So that‘s eight months times 4.3 weeks. I‘m going to find that‘s thirty-two weeks, at minimum, at $8.00 an hour, times twenty hours a week, so I have $640 times eight hours, $8.00 rather is his lost wage claim, which I total at being $5,120. I‘ll give the Defendant the further benefit and round the number down to $5,000 and enter an Order in the case. Restitution for lost wages against the Respondent and the parent in the amount of $5,000 and reduce that to an Order.
Cody noted an appeal to the Court of Special Appeals, arguing that the juvenile court abused its discretion by ordering restitution in the amount of $5,000 for Zachary‘s loss of earnings because the magistrate erred by admitting the Roseda Farm letter and because Zachary‘s lost earnings were not a “direct result” of Cody‘s delinquent act. The Court of Special Appeals, in an unreported opinion, concluded that the information in the Roseda Farm letter was corroborated by the testimony of Zachary and of his father, which supported the reliability of the letter. The court thus held that the letter was sufficiently reliable to satisfy the relaxed evidentiary standard applicable to juvenile рroceedings. The intermediate appellate court also found it significant that the magistrate expressed that the letter was irrelevant to his determination of the facts.1 The Court of Special Appeals also held that the evidence adduced at trial constituted a competent basis for the court to reasonably conclude by a preponderance of the evidence that Zachary‘s loss of earnings was a direct result of the delinquent act. The court noted the possibility that additional evidence could have been introduced at the hearing to provide additional support for the juvenile court‘s conclusion, but explained that it is not within the purview of the appellate courts to consider additional ways in which the State could have bolstered the restitution claim. Accordingly, the intermediate appellate court affirmed the juvenile court‘s order.
Cody petitioned this Court for review and we granted certiorari to answer the following questions:
Does Maryland‘s restitution statute allowing for recovery of lost earnings “as a direct result of the crime” permit the court to order restitution for lost earnings to be earned in the future and for lost earnings for a randomly selected period of time? - Did the Court of Special Appeals err in finding that competent evidence was introduced to support the claim for eight months of lost wages?
In re Cody, 448 Md. 724, 141 A.3d 135 (2016). For the reasons that follow, we shall affirm the judgment of the Court of Special Appeals and uphold the restitution award issued by the juvenile court.
DISCUSSION
Standard of Review
We ordinarily apply the abuse of discretion standard in reviewing a trial court‘s order of restitution. Silver v. State, 420 Md. 415, 427, 23 A.3d 867, 874 (2011). See also Wiredu v. State, 222 Md.App. 212, 228, 112 A.3d 1014, 1023 (2015) (“The decision to order restitution pursuant to [
Legal Contentions
Cody contends that
The position of the State is that the order of restitution for lost earnings was a proper exercise of the juvenile judge‘s discretion. The State argues that even if the statute does not allow for future lost wages, the outcome in this case is unaffected because the judge ordered restitution for lost wages during a time period that had already occurred. Further, the State contends that this Court need not, and should not, consider whether restitution for future earnings lost beyond the restitution hearing fall under the statute. The State urges, however, if we consider the issue, we should hold that the restitution statute covers future loss of earnings. The State also maintains that Cody‘s argument that the judge‘s calculation resulted in a speculative amount is without merit because competent evidence established the amount of weeks for which Zachary would work, the amount of hours per week, and the amount of compensation he would receive. The State adds that the judge reducеd the amount of restitution for loss of earnings to reflect the time period which had expired at the time of the initial restitution hearing and further reduced the amount for Cody‘s benefit to account for the approximation. The State posits that Cody‘s attempt to “manufacture uncertainty” should fail because entitlement to “restitution should
Amicus Curiae, Maryland Crime Victims’ Resource Center, Inc., submitted a briеf in this case contending that
Restitution for Loss of Earnings
“In Maryland, restitution may be ordered, with qualifications, as a direct sentence for a crime or delinquent act, in addition to any other penalty prescribed by the underlying sentencing or remedial statute.” Pete v. State, 384 Md. 47, 55, 862 A.2d 419, 423 (2004). Under
Restitution under [
§ 11-603 ] serves several objectives, including: (1) rehabilitation of the defendant; (2) compensation of the victim; and (3) penalizing the transgressor. One purpose is to compensate victims who have been injured or who have suffered property loss as a result of the wrongful acts of a minor[.] Restitution can impress upon the [juvenile] the gravity of the harm he has inflicted upon another[,] and providе an opportunity for him to make amends. As such, compensation of the victim is an important factor to consider in the overall goal of rehabilitating the juvenile respondent.
In re Delric H., 150 Md.App. at 250-51, 819 A.2d at 1126-27 (internal citations omitted).
We first consider whether the restitution statute permitted the juvenile court to order restitution for loss of earnings on the facts of this case. We are thus required to interpret
“Loss” is defined in The Random House Dictionary of the English Language 1137 (2d ed. 1987) as “detriment, disadvantage, or deprivation from failure to keep, have, or get[.]” “Earnings” is defined as “money earned; wage; profits.” The Random House Dictionary of the English Language 613 (2d ed. 1987). When interpreting legislative intent, “we apply the language [of the statute] as written and in a commonsense mаnner.” Downes, 388 Md. at 571, 880 A.2d at 343. Here, Zachary had scheduled employment through which he would have been paid wages or “earnings.” Zachary suffered a loss of earnings to the extent that his injuries deprived him of the opportunity to work and earn the wages, and to the extent that he failed to “get” the wages to which he was entitled. Therefore, under the plain language of
A basic principle of statutory construction is that we read a statute in a manner that neither broadens nor narrows the meaning of the plain language. Condon v. State of Maryland-Univ. of Md., 332 Md. 481, 491, 632 A.2d 753, 758 (1993) (“[A] court may not add or delete words to make a statute reflect an intent not evidenced in that language[.]“). The plain language of the statute does not include a limitation on future loss of earnings, nor does it differentiate between past and future losses of earnings. If the General Assembly had intended to create such a limitation or distinction, it would have affirmatively done so. See id. Thus, we conclude that there is no express statutory limitation on restitution for future loss of earnings.
There are, however, express statutory requirements that the loss or expense must be a direct result of the crime or delinquent act and that the claim for restitution must
In order to confirm that we are correct in our conclusion that an exclusion on future damages is not one of the statutory or decisional law limitations on restitution, we examine briefly the legislative history of
Prior to 1997, the predecessor to
Moreover, a review of our case law confirms our conclusion. In McDaniel, the Court of Special Appeals focused on the addition of the words “or losses” to subsection (a)(2)(i) of
[T]he goal of the General Assembly in adding [the words] “or losses” was to expand the circumstances in which a victim could claim restitution from a defendant. We think “dental losses,” hоwever imprecise a phrase, was meant to cover a situation in which an individual has suffered a harm—a dental injury—and has not yet expended money to correct it.
Id. In view of McDaniel, we see no reason why the legislature would have intended to allow for past and future damages by
Turning to the case at bar, we address Cody‘s argument that the restitution awarded in this case was improper. It is not clear why Cоdy considers this case to be one of “future earnings” because the loss of earnings restitution awarded in this case was for wages lost by Zachary as of the date of the restitution hearing. Cody cites cases outside-of-Maryland wherein restitution for lost earnings was ordered for “wages lost by the victim as of the date restitution was ordered and not for any future earnings.” For example, Cody attempts to support his position by relying on the Washington state case of State v. Lewis, 57 Wash.App. 921, 791 P.2d 250 (1990). In that case, the appellate court reversed an order of restitution for future lost wages of a deceased victim because the calculation of such wages would be speculative and because it concluded that the Washington legislature intended the statute to be read in the past tense, allowing restitution for losses that have already been incurred. Lewis, 791 P.2d at 253. That case is not at all factually similar to the case at bar. Here, Zachary had definite employment for a scheduled duration with an approximation of the wages he would earn and hours he would work. Moreover, Zachary had incurred the loss of these earnings at the time of the restitution hearing.
Although the phrase “lost wages” is not defined in the restitution statute, or anywhere else in the criminal code, the comparable phrase “loss of earnings” is generally defined in the civil context as earnings that were not received from the date of injury to the date dаmages for that injury are determined. In contrast, the phrase “loss of future earnings” is generally defined as earnings that, because of the opposing party‘s conduct, are not expected to be received from the date damages are determined forward.
Bryant, 122 P.3d at 1028 (emphasis added) (internal citations omitted). Assuming that the above definition of loss of future earnings is proper, the restitution ordered in this case does not fit within that definition. The restitution in the case at bar is not commensurate with the definition of “loss of future earnings.” Here, the restitution was ordered for eight months from the date of injury for wages that Zachary did not earn accounting from the date of his injury to the date of restitution hearing. No award was made for future earnings lost beyond the date of the restitution hearing. Insteаd, the juvenile court awarded restitution for wages that Zachary had already lost by the time of the restitution hearing.5 Therefore, although an award for a future loss of earnings is permissible under our
Although we conclude that, contrary to Cody‘s contentions, the restitution award in this case is not one for “future loss of earnings,” we must still decide whether the award is proper considering the aforementioned statutory and decisional law limitations on restitution awards. As discussed in further detail below, competent evidence was introduced in this case to demonstrate that there was a loss of earnings and that the loss of earnings was a direct result of the assault by Cody. Thus, the award satisfies the statutory requirements that the loss be a direсt result of the crime or delinquent act and that the claim be proven by competent evidence.
In McDaniel, the victim suffered a “dental loss“—a dental injury which, at the time of the restitution hearing, he had not yet expended money to correct. 205 Md.App. at 563, 45 A.3d at 922. The Court of Special Appeals approved the restitution award in that case based upon an estimate of cost to repair and restore the victim‘s teeth. McDaniel, 205 Md.App. at 565, 45 A.3d at 924. In so holding, the Court explained that “[t]he statement of the cost of repairing the dental damage and of replacing Robinson‘s missing tooth was spеcific enough; it was of a definite amount that did not encompass speculative future work.” Id. In the case at bar, as established through testimony and through the Roseda Farm letter, Zach
In In re John M., the Court of Special Appeals set aside a restitution order in the amount of $38,300 for future counseling expenses of the juvenile‘s two sexual assault victims. In re John M., 129 Md.App. at 185, 741 A.2d at 514 (“The juvenile court only has the ability to award restitution for reasonable sums that have already been incurred that are causally related to the juvenile‘s delinquent acts. Thus, an award for counseling expenses already incurred was appropriate, but not the award for the then future counseling expenses.“). In so holding, the Court noted that “statutory limitations and due process considerations do not permit an order of restitution for counseling expenses that are not yet certain to occur.” Id. Contrary to the award for future counseling expenses in In re John M., which were not reasonably certain to be incurred by the victims, here, there is no uncertainty about Zachary‘s loss of earnings. Zachary incurred his loss at the moment he became incapacitated to perform his job and earn wages. Moreover, the restitution awarded in this case was for wages lost during the period of time between the assault and the restitution hearing, and not for the future (i.e. beyond the restitution hearing). We thus conclude that Zachary‘s restitution claim satisfies the requirement that the award cover only losses that the victim is reasonably certain to incur. Accordingly, the restitution ordered in this case was permitted under
Competency of Evidence
Subsection (b) of
(b) A victim is presumed to have a right to restitution under subsection (a) of this section if:
(1) the victim or the State requests restitution; and
(2) the court is presented with competent evidence of any item listed in subsection (a) of this section.
The rules of evidence, including the rule against hearsay, do not strictly apply to a juvenile restitution proceeding. See In re Delric H., 150 Md.App. at 249, 819 A.2d at 1126 (“We hold that a juvenile court has the discretion, in the interest of justice, to decline the strict application of the Maryland Rules of Evidence ... in a restitution hearing“). However, “[e]ven though a court may decline to require a strict application of evidentiary rules, there still exists an inherent reliability/credibility requirement which a proponent of the offered evidence must satisfy.” In re Delric H., 150 Md.App. at 248-49, 819 A.2d at 1126.
Cody argues that “[n]othing in the letter or Zachary‘s testimony established precisely how many hours he would
Both Zachary and his father testified that Zachary was scheduled to work in the program at Roseda Farm for the school year and that he would work twenty hours per week at a compensation rate of $8.00 per hour. The Roseda Farm letter provided evidence that Zachary was scheduled to work at the farm for approximately 20 hours per week for approximately 40 weeks. The letter also provided evidence as to the approximate amount Zachary would have earned. The letter was signed by Marcia Bryant, who signed the letter in her capacity as the “office manager” at Roseda Farm. Zachary‘s father testified that he obtained the letter by asking Zachary‘s “boss” at Roseda Farm for “something in writing to confirm that [Zachary] was part of the program.” As the Court of Special Appeals noted below, “[a]lthough Zachary‘s father‘s explanation for how the letter was obtained would not satisfy any exсeptions to the rule against hearsay, it does provide additional context and reliability to the document.” Moreover, the information contained in the letter was consistent with the testimony of Zachary and his father. Therefore, the letter served to corroborate and enhance the reliability of the testimonial evidence.
Accordingly, we conclude that the evidence as to the restitution claim was competent and that Zachary was presumed to have a right to restitution. Cody has not overcome this presumption by showing that the restitution was unfair or unreasonable. See
Cody nonetheless takes issue with the fact that the Roseda Farm letter provided approximate figures regarding how many hours per week Zachary would work and for how many weeks total. Cody argues that the amount of the claim for loss of earnings is too speculative to serve as a basis for restitution.7 However, the standard for restitution is not one of absolute certainty or precision.8 Rather, there must be competent evidence showing entitlement to and the amount of lost earnings or expenses to be incurred by the victim as a direct result of the crime or delinquent act. McDaniel, 205 Md.App. at 559, 45 A.3d at 920 (“Competent evidence of entitlement to, and the amount of, restitution need only be reliable, admissible, and established by a preponderance of the evidence.“) (citation omitted). As discussed above, the evidence presented at the restitution hearing amounted to competent evidence of a loss of earnings as a direct result of a delinquent act.
Finally, Cody seems to suggest that in order to show loss of earnings as a direct result of the delinquent act, and thus be entitled to restitution, the State must have proven Zachary was unable to work any job.9 We cannot find, and Cody does not offer, any support from our decisional or statutory laws that this is a requirement of
CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, we hold that the loss of earnings restitution awarded to Zachary in this case was consistent with the law under
JUDGMENT OF THE COURT OF SPECIAL APPEALS IS AFFIRMED. PETITIONER TO PAY THE COSTS.