In The Morning Star Packing Co. LP et al. v. U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that the lower court had improperly denied a request for restitution by Morning Star under the Mandatory Victim Restitution Act (MVRA). The plaintiff claimed that it was a victim of former SK Foods LP CEO’s criminal price-fixing and racketeering scheme.
The MVRA provides restitution to a victim of “any offense committed by fraud or deceit” regardless of the defendant’s financial condition. An exception exists if the process of determining damages would be so complex that it would unreasonably delay sentencing. In this case, the lower court had rejected the restitution claim on the ground that the defendant could not pay and that Morning Star could file civil law suits. The Ninth Circuit held that these were illegitimate grounds on which to block the restitution request.