United States v. Michael Andrew Gill

264 F.3d 929, 2001 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 7873, 2001 Daily Journal DAR 9743, 2001 U.S. App. LEXIS 19695, 2001 WL 1012694
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedSeptember 6, 2001
Docket00-10304
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 264 F.3d 929 (United States v. Michael Andrew Gill) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Michael Andrew Gill, 264 F.3d 929, 2001 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 7873, 2001 Daily Journal DAR 9743, 2001 U.S. App. LEXIS 19695, 2001 WL 1012694 (9th Cir. 2001).

Opinions

Opinion by Judge TASHIMA; Dissent by Judge REINHARDT

TASHIMA, Circuit Judge:

Michael Gill (“Gill”) appeals the restitution imposed for his willful failure to pay child support under the Child Support Recovery Act (“CSRA”), 18 U.S.C. § 228(a). We must decide whether the restitution order properly included accrued interest as part of his unpaid child support obligation when the underlying state court order made no express mention of interest, but the applicable state law clearly mandated the accrual of interest on any delinquent payments as set forth in the order. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291, and we affirm.

I.

There is no dispute as to the facts relevant to this appeal. Gill and his ex-wife, Odettelynn Murphy, together had two children. They were born on August 4, 1981, and January 14, 1985. The couple divorced in November, 1987. On November 6, 1987, the San Joaquin County Superior Court, in California, ordered Gill to pay child support in the amount of $150 per child, per month, until the children reached the age of 18, were married, or were otherwise emancipated. The state child support order made no express mention of interest on delinquent payments. California law, however, mandates that “[ujnless the judgment provides otherwise, if a money judgment is payable in installments, interest commences to accrue as to each installment on the date the installment becomes due.” Cal.Civ.Proc.Code § 685.020(b). State law also explicitly pro[931]*931vides that “[i]nterest accrues at the rate of 10 percent per annum on the principal amount of a money judgment remaining unsatisfied.” Id. § 685.010(a). Moreover, child support arrearages, including any interest computed thereon, are enforceable until paid in full. Cal. Fam.Code § 4502.

The San Joaquin County Family Support Division administered the support order from 1987 to 1994; from 1994, the Fresno County Family Support Division has attempted to collect the child support. Gill voluntarily made intermittent payments in 1988 and 1989, totaling $1,300. Between 1991 and 1994, San Joaquin County also managed to intercept Gill’s tax refunds. No further payments were collected after June, 1994. To date, payments and collections from Gill total approximately $2,926.69.1 Gill no longer resides in California.

On December 12, 1997, Gill was charged with one count of willfully failing to pay child support, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 228(a)(1).2 After he consented to proceed before a magistrate judge, he pled guilty and was sentenced to five years’ probation. He was ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $64,787.48, which, according to the records of the Fresno County Family Support Division, included $41,268.38 in principal and $23,519.10 in accrued interest on the delinquent child support. Gill appealed his sentence to the district court, which affirmed the order of restitution on June 14, 2000. Gill timely filed notice of appeal to this court.

II.

Gill contends that only the principal amount of his delinquent child support, and not the accrued interest, can be included in the restitution order. We review the legality of a restitution order de novo. United States v. Craig, 181 F.3d 1124, 1126 (9th Cir.1999). Both the statutory text and legislative purpose of the CSRA, however, clearly refute Gill’s position on appeal.

The mandatory restitution provision of the CSRA provides:

Upon a conviction under this section, the court shall order restitution under section 3663A in an amount equal to the total unpaid support obligation as it exists at the time of sentencing.

18 U.S.C. § 228(d). The term “support obligation” is, in turn, defined as:

[A]ny amount determined under a court order or an order of an administrative process pursuant to the law of a State or of an Indian tribe to be due from a person for the support and maintenance of a child or of a child and the parent with whom the child is living.

Id. § 228(f)(3).

Gill suggests that the accrued interest may not be included as part of his “support obligation” within the meaning of the CSRA because such interest was not “determined under” the state court order, which made no express mention of interest. We disagree. The plain wording of the statute defines “support obligation” more specifically as that amount “determined under a court order ... pursuant to [932]*932the law of a State ... to be due” for child support. Id. (emphasis added). There is no dispute that the law of California requires interest to be imposed on Gill’s delinquent payments at the pre-deter-mined statutory rate from the date that each installment became due, in accordance with the schedule and amount as set forth in the court order. Although the order did not expressly mention interest (presumably because there is no need to do so in light of applicable state law), it was nonetheless mandatorily imposed “pursuant to” state law.

Gill’s statutory interpretation argument would interpret “determined under” a state court support order to mean “determined in” or “determined by” that order. We do not believe that such a reading is appropriate. As the Seventh Circuit has stated:

These are not the words Congress chose to use.... Congress could have explicitly required that there be a specific arrearage order entered by a state court or agency which establishes the exact amount owed by the wayward parent. Congress instead required that there be a state court order which creates the underlying obligation due by the nonpaying parent .... The CSRA does not envision a formal state order or agency ruling of arrearage as a prerequisite to the exercise of federal jurisdiction.

United States v. Black, 125 F.3d 454, 464 (7th Cir.1997) (emphasis added). While Gill does not suggest that an arrearage order is necessary to include the aggregate amount of his delinquent principal payments in the restitution order (or to exercise federal jurisdiction), the rationale of Black applies here as well. Just as the cumulative principal arrearage of his state support obligation is “determined under” the court order mandating periodic payments, so too is accrued interest “determined under” the court order. When those payments are not made on the specified dates, state law automatically imposes interest on the delinquent principal.

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Bluebook (online)
264 F.3d 929, 2001 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 7873, 2001 Daily Journal DAR 9743, 2001 U.S. App. LEXIS 19695, 2001 WL 1012694, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-michael-andrew-gill-ca9-2001.