NOTICE: NOT FOR OFFICIAL PUBLICATION.

UNDER ARIZONA RULE OF THE SUPREME COURT 111(c), THIS DECISION IS NOT PRECEDENTIAL

AND MAY BE CITED ONLY AS AUTHORIZED BY RULE.

IN THE

ARIZONA COURT OF APPEALS

DIVISION ONE

D.D., Petitioner,

v.

THE HONORABLE WARREN J. GRANVILLE, Judge of the SUPERIOR 

COURT OF THE STATE OF ARIZONA, in and for the County of 

Maricopa, Respondent Judge, 

JASON DONALD SIMPSON, Real Party in Interest. 

No. 1 CA-SA 19-0094 

Petition for Special Action from the Superior Court in Maricopa County

No. CR2015-134762-001 

The Honorable Warren J. Granville, Judge

JURISDICTION ACCEPTED; RELIEF DENIED

COUNSEL

Arizona Voice for Crime Victims, Phoenix

By Colleen Clase, Jessica Gattuso, Eric Aiken

Counsel for Petitioner

The Ferragut Law Firm, P.C., Phoenix

By Ulises S. Ferragut, Jr.

Counsel for Real Party in Interest

FILED 6-18-2019
D.D. v. HON GRANVILLE/SIMPSON

Decision of the Court

2 

MEMORANDUM DECISION

Judge Jennifer M. Perkins delivered the decision of the Court, in which 

Presiding Judge Randall M. Howe and Judge David D. Weinzweig joined.

P E R K I N S, Judge: 

¶1 D.D. appeals from the superior court’s order denying his 

motion for restitution related to attorneys’ fees incurred in a parallel 

proceeding. For the following reasons, we accept jurisdiction and deny 

relief.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

¶2 In 2015, Jason Donald Simpson was arrested and charged 

with thirty-three criminal counts related to sexual conduct with minors. 

D.D. (“Father”) and Simpson’s then-girlfriend K.B. (“Mother”) were 

parents to S.D., one of Simpson’s victims.

¶3 At Simpson’s bond hearing, Mother said she wanted to 

continue her relationship with Simpson, causing the superior court to take 

jurisdiction of Mother and Father’s unrelated family law matter and 

suspend Mother’s parenting time with S.D. The superior court ordered 

Mother and Father to make the appropriate filings in the family law matter 

to apprise that court of the situation and allow for more permanent orders. 

Father asserts that he incurred $177,594.41 in the ensuing parenting time 

and legal decision-making litigation. The court, at the conclusion of the 

family law litigation, ordered Mother to pay $35,000 of Father’s legal fees,

and Father sought to recover the balance from Simpson through courtordered restitution.

¶4 Simpson entered a plea agreement to resolve the outstanding

criminal charges. Simpson agreed to pay $9,500.87 in restitution for 

counseling, mileage, and lost wages, but disputed Father’s request for legal 

fees incurred in the family law litigation. 

¶5 After oral argument, the superior court denied Father’s

request, finding that the damages were consequential under Arizona 

Revised Statutes (“A.R.S.”) section 13-105 and thus “beyond the scope” of 

criminal restitution. Father timely petitioned for relief by special action.
D.D. v. HON GRANVILLE/SIMPSON

Decision of the Court

3 

DISCUSSION

¶6 We view the evidence in the light most favorable to sustaining 

the superior court’s order. State v. Leon, 240 Ariz. 492, 494, ¶ 2 (App. 2016). 

The superior court has “wide discretion” in determining restitution. State v. 

Ellis, 172 Ariz. 549, 551 (App. 1992). Thus, we review the superior court’s 

order for an abuse of discretion. See State v. Lindsley, 191 Ariz. 195, 197 (App. 

1997) (noting that we will uphold a restitution order “if it bears a reasonable 

relationship to the victim’s loss”). However, we review questions of law, 

including the interpretation of statutes, de novo. State v. Lantz, 245 Ariz. 451, 

453, ¶ 9 (App. 2018). 

¶7 Courts are required to order restitution “in the full amount of 

[the victim’s] economic loss as determined by the court . . . .” A.R.S. § 13-

603(C). But restitution is not limitless. A loss may be properly compensated 

by a restitution order only if the loss is an economic loss directly caused by 

the defendant’s charged criminal offenses that would not have occurred 

“but for” the defendant’s criminal offenses. State v. Wilkinson, 202 Ariz. 27, 

29, ¶ 7 (2002). “Whether specific expenses are economic losses depends 

upon whether a causal connection exists between the criminal conduct and 

the claimed loss.” State v. Blanton, 173 Ariz. 517, 520 (App. 1992). Economic

loss does not include “consequential damages,” that is, damages that “[did] 

not flow directly from the defendant’s criminal activity.” State v. Madrid, 

207 Ariz. 296, 298, ¶ 5 (App. 2004); A.R.S. § 13-105(16) (excluding 

“consequential damages” from economic loss).

¶8 “If the loss results from the concurrence of some causal event 

other than the defendant’s criminal conduct, the loss is indirect and 

consequential and cannot qualify for restitution under Arizona’s statutes.”

Wilkinson, 202 Ariz. at 29, ¶ 7 (citing Lindsley, 191 Ariz. at 198). Restitution 

does not include damages that result from a defendant’s conduct 

“combined with the action or inaction of others.” State v. Sexton, 176 Ariz. 

171, 173 (App. 1993). 

¶9 Here, the State charged Simpson with sexual misconduct 

against minors, including S.D., but Mother supported Simpson, causing 

concern about her ability to protect S.D. from re-victimization. Recognizing 

these concerns, the superior court took emergency steps to protect S.D., 

which included ordering Mother and Father to re-open their family law 

matter to permanently resolve parenting time and legal decision-making 

questions raised by Mother’s relationship with Simpson.
D.D. v. HON GRANVILLE/SIMPSON

Decision of the Court

4 

¶10 From there, Mother and Father litigated the family law issues

in a parallel proceeding unrelated to Simpson. Nevertheless, Father sought

to recover his attorneys’ fees for that parallel litigation from Simpson in the 

form of restitution. Father incurred attorneys’ fees from his continued 

family law dispute with Mother, which was necessary, at least in part, due 

to Mother’s continued relationship with Simpson. Mother’s action and 

inaction, remaining close to Simpson despite the threat to her daughter’s

safety, required Father to incur attorneys’ fees. Simpson’s actions alone did 

not result in Father incurring attorneys’ fees in the family law matter. Thus, 

the fees were consequential rather than a direct result of Simpson’s criminal 

conduct. Sexton, 176 Ariz. at 173. 

¶11 Accordingly, the superior court did not err in ruling that 

Father’s attorneys’ fees in the family law matter are consequential, rather 

than direct losses, and are thus not recoverable as criminal restitution. See 

A.R.S. § 13-105(16); Madrid, 207 Ariz. at 298, ¶ 5. 

CONCLUSION

¶12 We accept jurisdiction and deny relief.