I was curious if anyone has ever had a victim's lost wages ordered as part of a defendant's restitution. I understand that it can be done by agreement, but I am trying to focus on whether or not it can be done as a result of a contested hearing.

I cannot find any prohibition in the code and the only case law I found dealt with lost wages being ordered as restitution to a victim's widow. The appellate court said that the wages should have been ordered to the victim's estate as opposed to the widow but that seems to vindicate the notion that it can be ordered at all. Lemos v. State, 27 S.W.3d 42

For a list of statutory authorized financial payments, see Table 4-8, and pages 98-101 of The Perfect Plea.

See also Tex. Code Crim. Pro. art. 42.037.

Restitution is limited to property damage or destruction and expenses from an injury. If you look at the Crime Victim Compensation definition of such a loss, it seems to include "actual loss of past earnings and anticipated loss of future earnings." Tex. Code Crim. Pro. art. 56.32(a)(9)(B).

quote:

Originally posted by KWC:
I cannot find any prohibition in the code ...

FYI, this is usually *not* a good argument to make when it comes to money and the criminal justice system. There are exceptions, of course, but the general rule of thumb is that if there is no specific statute authorizing the taking/giving/expending of money, then don't do it.

Stick to that rule of thumb and you'll save yourself many headaches over the years.