United States v. Theodore Anthony CienfuegosUnited States v. Theodore Anthony Cienfuegos
OPINION
The Government appeals the district court’s denial of its motion to order restitution for future lost income to a manslaughter victim’s estate pursuant to the Mandatory Victims Restitution Act of 1996 (“MVRA”),
I
On May 24, 2003, Theodore Anthony Cienfuegos drove to an area on the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation known as the Windmill, an open circular area where a number of local residents had gathered to socialize. Shortly after he arrived at the Windmill, Cienfuegos engaged in an altercation with several individuals. He then got into his car and drove into six vehicles parked around the Windmill, causing the nearby crowd to rapidly disperse. Billie Jean Noline, a registered member of the San Carlos Apache Indian tribe, tripped and fell as she ran to avoid the path of Cienfuegos’ vehicle. Cienfuegos ran over Noline with his car, hit a tree, and then backed up and
A federal grand jury returned a three-count superseding indictment on August 19, 2004, which charged: (1) second degree murder in violation of
Before sentencing, on February 2, 2005, the Government moved for restitution for Noline’s future lost income pursuant to the MVRA. It submitted a report from a certified public accountant on February 18, 2005, calculating Noline’s lifetime future lost income to be $1,851,134.00. The district court denied restitution for future lost income, reasoning that the complexities associated with determining future lost income belong in a civil action brought by the survivors and not as an adjunct to a federal criminal case. The district court further advised the victim’s family to file a civil suit, as the statute of limitations had not yet expired. The district court sentenced Cienfuegos to a term of imprisonment of fifty-one months on each count, to be served concurrently, followed by three years of supervised release. It also ordered Cienfuegos to pay a special assessment of $200.00 and restitution to the victims for funeral and related expenses in the amount of $11,629.87.
II
We review a restitution order for an abuse of discretion, provided that it is within the bounds of the statutory framework.
See United States v. Phillips,
Ill
Cienfuegos first argues that because the Government failed to provide the probation officer with a list of the amounts subject to restitution not later than sixty days prior to sentencing, as was required by
The Government undisputedly failed to comply with the
[T]he purpose behind the statutory ninety-day limit on the determination of victims’ losses is not to protect defendants from drawn-out sentencing proceedings or to establish finality; rather, it is to protect crime victims from the willful dissipation of defendants’ assets.... Mindful of these goals, we have ruled that a district court’s failure to determine identifiable victims’ losses within ninety days after sentencing, as prescribed by§ 3664(d)(5) , will be deemed harmless error to the defendant unless he can show actual prejudice from the omission.
See also United States v. Johnson,
Moreover, Cienfuegos was provided the functional equivalent of the notice required under
IV
The parties do not dispute that the MVRA applies to this case and that it makes victim restitution mandatory for Cienfuegos. The only issue in contention is whether the MVRA permits or requires restitution for future lost income. The Government argues that the district court had a mandatory obligation to order restitution for future lost income. Cienfuegos, on the other hand, argues that restitution for future lost income is neither required nor permitted under the MVRA. Because the plain language of the statute, congressional intent, and federal legal authorities
The plain language of the MVRA contemplates an award of restitution to the victim’s estate for future lost income and certainly does not expressly exclude such an award. The MVRA provides:
(a)(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, when sentencing a defendant convicted of an offense described in subsection (c), the court shall order ... that the defendant make restitution to the victim of the offense or, if the victim is deceased, to the victim’s estate.
(b) The order of restitution shall require that such defendant—
(2) in the case of an offense resulting in bodily injury to a victim—
(C) reimburse the victim for income lost by such victim as a result of such offense. ...
lost earnings. Wages, salary, or other income that a person could have earned if he or she had not lost a job, suffered a disabling injury, or died. Lost earnings are typically awarded as damages in personal-injury and wrongful-termination cases. There can be past lost earnings and future lost earnings. Both are subsets of this category, though legal writers sometimes loosely use future earnings as a synonym for lost earnings. Cf. LOST EARNING CAPACITY.
Black’s Law Dictionary 526 (7th ed.1999).
Furthermore, the MVRA requires lost income to be paid to victims who suffer bodily injury,
Moreover, the legislative history of a recent victims’ rights bill, the Scott Campbell, Stephanie Roper, Wendy Preston, Lo-uarna Gillis, and Nila Lynn Crime Victims’ Rights Act (“CVRA”), Public Law No. 108-405, 118 Stat. 2260,
I would like to turn now to restitution .... This section provides the right to full and timely restitution as provided in law. We specifically intend to endorse the expansive definition of restitution given by Judge Cassell in U.S. v. Bedonie and U.S. v. Serawop in May 2004. This right, together with the other rights in the act to be heard and confer with the government’s attorney in this act, means that existing restitution laws will be more effective.
Id.
at S10911 (citing
United States v. Bedonie,
When it passed the MVRA, Congress presumably was aware of the background of the term “lost income,” which is frequently interpreted under wrongful death and survival statutes and state criminal restitution statutes to allow compensation for both past and future lost income. State wrongful death and survival actions generally allow compensation to the victim’s estate or the victim’s decedents for future lost income, although the methods
Similarly, wrongful death suits under maritime law and the Federal Tort Claims Act (“FTCA”) have permitted recovery for future lost income.
2
State courts also frequently interpret the term “lost income” under criminal restitution statutes to permit restitution for future lost income to be
Our holding accords with decisions of the Fifth Circuit, under the MVRA’s predecessor, the Victim and Witness Protection Act of 1982 (“VWPA”),
We reject Cienfuegos’ argument that the district court acted within its discretion when, relying on the complexity involved in calculating future lost income, it denied the Government’s motion for such restitution. Cienfuegos argues that because the Seventh Circuit in
United States v. Fountain,
In addition, under the MVRA the availability of a civil suit can no longer be considered by the district court in deciding the amount of restitution. It provides that “[i]n no case shall the fact that a victim has received or is entitled to receive compensation with respect to a loss from insurance or any other source be considered in determining the amount of restitution.”
Any award of future lost income must not be predicated on speculation or conduct unrelated to the offense of conviction, as such an award would be inconsistent with congressional intent. The accompanying Senate Report stated that “[t]he committee believes that losses in which the amount of the victim’s losses are speculative, or in which the victim’s loss is not clearly causally linked to the offense, should not be subject to mandatory restitution.” S.Rep. No. 104-179, at 19, 1996 U.S.C.C.A.N. at 932. Accordingly, the MVRA provides that the presentence report (“PSR”) should contain all of the “information sufficient for the court to exercise its discretion in fashioning a restitution order.”
While calculation of future lost income must be based upon certain economic assumptions, the concepts and analysis involved are well-developed in federal law, and thus the district court is not without persuasive analogy for guidance.
See, e.g., Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp. v. Pfeifer,
REVERSED AND REMANDED FOR PROCEEDINGS CONSISTENT HEREWITH.
Notes
.
See, e.g., Hern v. Safeco Ins. Co. of Ill.,
.
See Sea-Land Servs., Inc. v. Gaudet,
.
See, e.g., Koile v. State,
. Several federal district courts also have awarded restitution for future lost income.
United States v. Serawop,