Overpayment of Restitution in a Criminal Case
My question involves criminal law for the state of: California, (U.S. District Court, Central District)
Hello all, I would really appreciate some advice and if possible, hire an attorney that can help.
I'm going to summarize this as best I can.
1. Year 2008, co-defendant and I was found guilty of fraud.
2. We had separate attoneries (from the same firm) and assigned different federal judges.
3. Victim agreed to a fixed restitution amount to be paid joint and severally (we had a joint meeting before sentencing, $169K for co-defendant and $215k for me)
4. PSR clearly states that this amount is joint and severally.
5. I paid off the $215K, however the Financial Litigation Unit states that it will not cover the $169K owed by the co-defendant.
6. They are technically correct, after re-reading both our Judgement Orders, judges never wrote that the restitution should be joint and severally.
7. FLU cannot veer from Judgement Order and the PSR is inadmissible.
8. Old attoneries will not respond and I hired a new attorney and nothing came out of it
Note: Case is too old to file for any traditional appeals.
Thank you for reading.
Re: Overpayment of Restitution
That's what "jointly and severally" means -- ultimately you both owe the whole amount. If your buddy doesn't pay, you're still on the hook just as he is. Doesn't matter that different amounts were assigned to each of you, joint and several makes you both responsible for the entire amount. I don't know if you can sue him civilly for reimbursement of what should be his contribution but I doubt it. BTW, it would be a rare occurrence where co-defendants were not held to joint and several liability for restitution.
Re: Overpayment of Restitution
It's all fun and games until it's time to pay back!