Head v. State

683 N.E.2d 1336, 1997 Ind. App. LEXIS 1125, 1997 WL 459012
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedAugust 5, 1997
DocketNo. 45A05-9601-CR-40
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 683 N.E.2d 1336 (Head v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Head v. State, 683 N.E.2d 1336, 1997 Ind. App. LEXIS 1125, 1997 WL 459012 (Ind. Ct. App. 1997).

Opinions

OPINION

BARTEAU, Judge.

Gordon Head appeals his convictions following a jury trial for two counts of violating the Environmental Management Act, a Class D felony. He raises the following issues:

1. Whether Head’s convictions violate the Fifth Amendment prohibition against Double Jeopardy because he had already been punished for the underlying acts in a separate civil suit for injunctive relief which included a monetary “cure penalty”?
2. Whether the trial court’s order of restitution was contrary to law?

FACTS

Head operated an “automobile fluff’1 recycling center in Gary, Indiana. On February 14,1991, after receiving a complaint from the Gary Air Pollution Agency, the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) inspected Head’s recycling center. IDEM observed that more than six thousand yards of automobile fluff had been dumped on the property. IDEM notified Head that the open dumping was a violation of the Environmental Management Act, and instructed him to correct the violation.

IDEM again inspected Head’s recycling center in July of 1991. IDEM observed that additional automobile fluff was being dumped on the site. IDEM then informed Head that he needed to cease the open dumping and remove the automobile fluff from the site to a permitted landfill. Head was further notified that he needed to obtain a Solid Waste Processing Facility permit from IDEM before the recycling center could process any automobile fluff. Head never obtained a permit.

On December 18, 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.

MOTION TO STRIKE

We must initially address the State’s motion to strike the “Order Granting Injunctive Relief” that appears in the appendix of Head’s appellate brief. Such order does not appear in the trial record, and the trial court has informed us by order that the “Order Granting Injunctive Relief” was not made a part of the record at trial, but rather portions of the order were quoted in Head’s pretrial motion to dismiss. Inasmuch as the “Order Granting Injunctive Relief’ was not made a part of the record at trial, we must [1338]*1338grant the State’s motion to strike the order from the appendix of Head’s brief.

However, the trial record does include an “Order on Plaintiffs 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 Plaintiffs Petition to Appear and Show Cause.”

DOUBLE JEOPARDY

Head argues that his convictions are barred by the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment because he was previously punished for the same actions in a civil injunction action. Head claims that a cure penalty imposed upon him in the injunction constituted a punishment, and therefore his subsequent criminal prosecution was barred.

The Double Jeopardy Clause states that no person shall “be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb.” U.S. Const. amend. V. The Double Jeopardy Clause “protects a person from suffering (1) a second prosecution for the same offense after acquittal, (2) a second prosecution for the same offense after conviction and (3) multiple punishments for the same offense.” Bryant v. State, 660 N.E.2d 290, 295 (Ind. 1995), cert. denied, — U.S.-, 117 S.Ct. 293, 136 L.Ed.2d 213 (1996) (citing North Carolina v. Pearce, 395 U.S. 711, 89 S.Ct. 2072, 23 L.Ed.2d 656 (1969)).

In determining whether a sanction subjects a person to a jeopardy, the sanction’s label of “criminal” or “civil” is not controlling. Id. (citing United States v. Halper, 490 U.S. 435, 447, 109 S.Ct. 1892, 1901, 104 L.Ed.2d 487 (1989)).

Rather, the test is whether the civil sanction constitutes a “punishment.” [Montana Dep’t of Revenue v.] Kurth Ranch, [511] U.S. [767], 779-81, 114 S.Ct. [1937,] 1946, [128 L.Ed.2d 767 (1994) ]. When the sanction serves the goals of punishment rather than the remedial purposes of compensating the government for its loss, it is a punishment and thus a “jeopardy” within the Double Jeopardy Clause. 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 fíne 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.

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Bluebook (online)
683 N.E.2d 1336, 1997 Ind. App. LEXIS 1125, 1997 WL 459012, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/head-v-state-indctapp-1997.