FOR PUBLICATION
ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT: ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE:
MARCE GONZALEZ, JR. PAMELA CARTER
Merrillville, Indiana Attorney General of Indiana
CHRISTOPHER L. LAFUSE
Deputy Attorney General
Indianapolis, Indiana
GORDON LYLE HEAD, )
)
Appellant-Defendant, )
)
vs. ) No. 45A05-9601-CR-40
)
STATE OF INDIANA, )
)
Appellee-Plaintiff. )
OPINION - FOR PUBLICATION
2. Whether the trial court's order of restitution was contrary to law?
On December 13, 1991, IDEM again inspected the recycling center and found that an
additional 10,000 cubic yards of automobile fluff had been dumped on the site. IDEM then
issued a formal Notice of Violation again informing Head that the recycling center was
operating in violation of the Environmental Management Act. Despite that notice, Head
continued to operate the recycling center. Subsequent testing of the automobile fluff
indicated that it contained unacceptable levels of environmental contaminants. On December
4, 1992, Head was enjoined from receiving additional automobile fluff at the site and from
processing any automobile fluff at the site. The injunction order also required Head to
"secure the site to prevent entry, to contain the automobile fluff to prevent migration and run-
off, to immediately dispose of said fluff at an approved facility, to assess the extent of the
contamination and to reduce or eliminate said contamination." R. 301. The order imposed
a penalty of $100 per day on Head until the provisions of the order were satisfied. Head was
subsequently charged and convicted of two counts of violating the Environmental
Management Act based upon his operation of the recycling center.
However, the trial record does include an "Order on Plaintiff's Petition to Appear and
Show Cause" which reflects the substance of the civil proceeding upon which Head bases
his double jeopardy claim. Thus, we will address Head's double jeopardy claim based upon
the "Order on Plaintiff's Petition to Appear and Show Cause."
Id. The sanction's essence as a punishment can be identified "only by
assessing the character of the actual sanctions imposed on the individual by the
machinery of the state." Halper, 490 U.S. at 447, 109 S. Ct. at 1901.
Id. at 295-96. A fine that is excessive and disproportionate to the government's actual
damages constitutes punishment for double jeopardy purposes. See Halper, 490 U.S. at 452,
109 S. Ct. at 1904.
The record discloses that a civil penalty of $100 per day was imposed upon Head for
each day up until he complied with the provisions of the order granting injunctive relief.
That order was entered on December 4, 1992, and enjoined Head from "accepting additional
automobile fluff and from processing automobile fluff at the site," and also required Head
to "secure the site to prevent entry, to contain the automobile fluff to prevent migration and
run-off, to immediately dispose of said fluff at an approved facility, to assess the extent of
the contamination and to reduce or eliminate said contamination." R. 301. The civil penalty,
on its face, serves the remedial goal of coercing Head into compliance with the injunction
rather than serving the goal of punishment. Head had the ability to avoid the penalty by
simply complying with the provisions of the injunction. Further, the amount of Head's civil
penalty was not excessive, and it was ordered to be paid to the Environmental Management
Special Fund, thus benefitting the party who would bear the costs of the harm caused by
Head's failure to comply with the terms of the injunction. Therefore, the penalty has a
compensatory purpose. This compensatory purpose is not altered by the fact that the penalty
was imposed in addition to the costs that were expended to secure, contain, assess, and
clean-up the site. See Halper, 490 U.S. at 448, 109 S. Ct. at 1902 ("Similarly, we have
recognized that in the ordinary case fixed-penalty-plus-double-damages provisions can be
said to do no more then to make the government whole. . . . What we announce today is a
rule for the rare case where a fixed penalty provision subjects a prolific but small-gauge
offender to a sanction overwhelmingly disproportionate to the damages he has caused."). We
therefore find that the civil penalty did not constitute a jeopardy, and thus did not bar Head's
subsequent criminal prosecution and convictions.
R. 318. Head argues that the trial court's order of restitution is contrary to law because it was
made contingent upon Head prevailing in another action. Head also argues that the
restitution order was excessive and manifestly unreasonable.
Review of the trial court's order discloses that the restitution order was not contingent.
Head's assertion that the order of restitution was contingent is based upon the trial court
judge's statement, after entering the order, that he recognized Head would not be able to pay
restitution unless he prevailed in the federal lawsuit. This statement regarding Head's ability
to pay the restitution does not transform the restitution order into a contingent order. The
trial court's order did not condition the restitution upon Head's success in the federal lawsuit,
or upon any other event. Head's assertion that the restitution order was contingent is without
merit.
Head also argues that the restitution order is an excessive fine in violation of Article
I, section 16 of the Indiana Constitution, and that the fine was manifestly unreasonable. An
order of restitution in an amount equal to the damages caused by one's criminal actions does
not constitute a fine, and thus, would not trigger an excessive fine analysis. We further note
that Head does not assert that the order of restitution was not supported by the evidence, and
as such, we cannot find that the restitution order was manifestly unreasonable.
GORDON LYLE HEAD, )
)
Appellant-Defendant, )
)
vs. ) No. 45A05-9601-CR-40
)
STATE OF INDIANA, )
)
Appellee-Plaintiff. )
I concur in result. I write only to clarify my position that the penalty assessed during the December 1992 injunction was based solely on compliance with the provisions of the civil order, not as a penalty for previous conduct for which Head could be held civilly and/or criminally responsible. Thus, unlike the civil penalty in Department of Revenue of Montana v. Kurth Ranch, 511 U.S. 767, 114 S.Ct. 1937, 1945-1946 (1994), where a tax was imposed for the same conduct that produced criminal sanctions, Head could have avoided the civil penalties altogether even after he had committed the conduct which led to criminal
prosecution. The court prescribed civil penalties which would become effective as Head
failed to comply with the injunction.
I agree with the balance of the majority opinion.
IN THE
COURT OF APPEALS OF INDIANA
GORDON LYLE HEAD, )
)
Appellant-Defendant, )
)
vs. ) No. 45A05-9601-CR-40
)
STATE OF INDIANA, )
)
Appellee. )
SULLIVAN, Judge, concurring and concurring in result
I fully concur in the majority opinion with regard to the issue of restitution. I join
Judge Hoffman's separate opinion concerning the double jeopardy issue and would merely
add a few supplemental comments.
The "cure order" assessing a penalty of $100 per day was prospective only, dating
from December 4, 1992. Of the two counts of which Head was convicted, one count alleged
that the open dumping violation began on February 14, 1991. The second count alleged that
the permit violation began on December 13, 1991. Thus the criminal violations took place
and were punishable for conduct that had been committed prior to the commencement date
of the coercive compliance order of December 4, 1992. Although there may have been an
overlapping of a portion of the periods during which the criminal conduct continued, and
the period covered by the "cure order", the overlap is of no moment insofar as double
jeopardy is concerned. The validity of the criminal convictions is unrelated to the cure-
penalty period and the validity of the cure-penalty is unrelated to the already complete and
punishable criminal conduct which took place prior to the "cure order".
With respect to the remedial-penal analysis of the majority opinion, I am unable to
conclude that the fact that the fine inures to the benefit of the Environmental Management
Special Fund determines its underlying nature. I do, however, agree that the penal aspect is
"merely incidental to the overriding remedial" effect of forcing compliance with the
injunctive order. See Schrefler v. State (1996) Ind.App., 660 N.E2d 585, 588.See footnote
2
Subject to the comments herein, I concur in the affirmance of the two convictions and
of the restitution order.
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