Source: http://openjurist.org/170/f3d/871/united-states-v-ballek
Timestamp: 2013-05-22 11:55:09
Document Index: 228865861

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 228', '§ 228', '§ 25', '§ 11', '§ 19', '§ 19', '§ 3613', '§ 3664', '§ 3614', '§ 3664']

170 F3d 871 United States v. Ballek | OpenJurist
170 F. 3d 871 - United States v. Ballek	Home170 f3d 871 united states v. ballek
170 F3d 871 United States v. Ballek 170 F.3d 871
99 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 1805, 1999 DailyJournal D.A.R. 2325UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee,v.Jeffrey A. BALLEK, Defendant-Appellant.
No. 97-30326.
Argued and Submitted Sept. 18, 1998.Decided March 11, 1999.
Carlton F. Gunn, Assistant Federal Public Defender, Anchorage, Alaska, for the defendant-appellant.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Alaska; John W. Sedwick, District Judge, Presiding. D.C. No. CR-97-00049-JWS.
Before: ALDISERT,* WALLACE and KOZINSKI, Circuit Judges.
The district court found defendant guilty of willfully failing to pay child support, in violation of the Child Support Recovery Act (CSRA), 18 U.S.C. § 228 (1994) (amended 1998). The court based its finding of willfulness on defendant's failure to seek available employment, which would have earned him enough money to meet his child support obligations. Among the questions we consider is whether, so construed, the CSRA violates the constitutional prohibition against slavery.
* Ballek and his wife were married in Alaska in 1976 and subsequently had four children. For over a decade Ballek supported his family through his work as a general building contractor. After an acrimonious divorce in 1988, the state court awarded custody of the children to the mother and ordered Ballek to pay $500 a month plus half of their medical expenses as child support. The court further provided that the payment would be reduced to $395 if Ballek's wife and children moved out of state.
"Whoever willfully fails to pay a past due support obligation with respect to a child who resides in another State" violates the CSRA. 18 U.S.C. § 228(a) (1994) (amended 1998). The term "willfully" in this phrase can be read one of two ways: having the money and refusing to use it for child support; or, not having the money because one has failed to avail oneself of the available means of obtaining it. In determining whether the statute is limited to the former meaning of "willfully" or extends to the latter, we note that the obligation in question is not an ordinary debt; it is an award imposed by a state court to ensure the sustenance and well-being of the obligor's children. In making such an award, the state courts take into account a variety of factors, including the non-custodial parent's other obligations and his ability to pay child support; if circumstances change, the obligor can return to court and seek to have the amount reduced. See Alaska Stat. § 25.24.170 (Michie 1998); Curley v. Curley, 588 P.2d 289, 291 n. 2 (Alaska 1979).
The CSRA's clear-cut legislative history supports this construction. The House Report accompanying H.R. 1241, which eventually became the CSRA, addressed the meaning of "willfully fails to pay." See H.R.Rep. No. 102-771, at 6 (1992). The Report notes that "[t]his language has been borrowed from the tax statutes that make willful failure to collect or pay taxes a Federal crime." Id. The Report then instructs that "the willful failure standard of [the CSRA] should be interpreted in the same manner that Federal courts have interpreted [the] felony tax provisions." Id. The Report quotes with approval from our opinion in United States v. Poll, 521 F.2d 329 (9th Cir.1975), where we held that, for purposes of proving willful failure to pay,
Id. at 333 (emphasis added). By quoting Poll, the drafters of the House Report clearly embraced a meaning of the term "willfully" that goes beyond merely failing to pay when one has the funds available, and extends to the situation where the defendant has acted willfully in not having funds available. Our interpretation follows that of the Eleventh Circuit, the only other court of appeals to have addressed this question. See United States v. Williams, 121 F.3d 615, 620-21 (11th Cir.1997).
We conclude that child-support awards fall within that narrow class of obligations that may be enforced by means of imprisonment without violating the constitutional prohibition against slavery.2 We start with the self-evident observation that the relationship between parent and child is much more than the ordinary relationship between debtor and creditor. The parent is responsible for bringing the child into the world and in so doing assumes a moral obligation to provide the child with the necessities of life, and to ensure the child's welfare until it is emancipated and able to provide for itself. When parents neglect their children, this raises more than a private legal dispute. It is a matter of vital importance to the community, and every state now enforces, by means of criminal sanctions, the parent's obligation to support children within his custody. See Alaska Stat. § 11.51.120 (Michie 1998); see also Frances W.H. Kuchler, Law of Support 34 (3d ed.1980).
The state's strong concern for the welfare of minor children is also manifested by the fact that parental obligations at the dissolution of a marriage are not left to private agreement. Rather, they are supervised by family courts which are charged with the responsibility of securing the children's welfare despite the estrangement of the parents. Experience teaches that the natural bonds, which normally ensure that children are cared for, are sometimes weakened when the affinity between the parents comes to an end. The supervision--and coercive power--of the court is often invoked to prompt the non-custodial parent to continue providing support. The non-custodial parent's obligation to pay child support is thus derivative of the obligation to provide support in a custodial setting, and such awards are routinely enforced by imprisonment. See, e.g., Taylor v. Alaska, 710 P.2d 1019 (Alaska Ct.App.1985) (affirming conviction of non-custodial parent who without lawful excuse failed to provide support for child). The state also has an interest in protecting the public fisc by ensuring that the children not become wards of the state. Cf. Butler, 240 U.S. at 333, 36 S.Ct. 258 ("[The Thirteenth Amendment] certainly was not intended to interdict enforcement of ... duties which individuals owe to the State....") At least one state Supreme Court has rejected the argument that imprisonment for failure to work in order to earn enough money to make child support payments violates state and federal prohibitions against slavery. See Moss v. Superior Court, 17 Cal.4th 396, 71 Cal.Rptr.2d 215, 222, 950 P.2d 59, 66 (1998).
We therefore turn to Ballek's argument that the record does not support the district court's finding that he acted willfully in failing to pay child support. It clearly does. As the district court found, Ballek earned good money as a contractor before his divorce; on that income he was able to support a family of six. After his divorce, Ballek abandoned construction, which he admitted is "what I know makes me money," and wandered from one low-paying job to another. He only returned to the construction trade after he remarried and moved in with his new wife and her three children. There is ample evidence to support the district court's finding that Ballek was capable of working as a contractor, and that there was contracting work available, which would have paid him enough to meet his child support obligation.
The district court did not find that Ballek failed to seek employment as a contractor so that he would be unable to meet his support obligation, but this does not render the finding of willfulness insufficient. The government need not prove that defendant's failure to accept gainful employment was caused by a desire to withhold payments from the spouse and children, or any similar evil motive. Cf. United States v. Pomponio, 429 U.S. 10, 12, 97 S.Ct. 22, 50 L.Ed.2d 12 (1976) (per curiam) (requisite motive for willful tax violation is intentional violation of known legal duty). It is just as much a violation of the CSRA for a non-custodial parent to fail to pay child support where his refusal to work is motivated by sloth, a change of life-styles or pursuit of new career objectives. For most people, bringing children into the world does limit life choices by imposing certain long-term financial obligations. A parent with minor children at home cannot quit work and become a hobo or go back to school as the fancy moves him. Nor may a non-custodial parent stop making child support payments because he has decided to pursue a post-doctoral degree in macrobiotics. A parent who is subject to an order for child support must seek a modification of the order before making such a lifestyle change. The family court judge can then determine whether such a change is consistent with the parent's prior obligation to support the children. Where a parent does not seek such a modification, but chooses (for whatever reason) to eschew work that is otherwise available, he is subject to imprisonment for failure to pay, both under state law and under the CSRA.III
The Honorable Ruggero J. Aldisert, Senior U.S. Circuit Judge for the Third Circuit, sitting by designation
Ballek raises his Thirteenth Amendment argument for the first time on appeal. Because this is a purely legal question, we exercise our discretion to overlook Ballek's waiver of the issue. See Resolution Trust Corp. v. First Am. Bank, 155 F.3d 1126, 1129 (9th Cir.1998)
The obligation of parents to support their children was recognized in the United States long before the Thirteenth Amendment was adopted. See 2 James Kent, Commentaries on American Law 161 (Leonard W. Levy ed., Da Capo Press 1971 (1827); Stanton v. Willson, 3 Day 37 (Conn.1808) (non-custodial divorced father responsible for full financial maintenance of children); see also Donna Schuele, Origins and Development of the Law of Parental Child Support, 27 J. Fam. L. 807, 811 (1988-1989)). Passage of the Amendment did not diminish the states' commitment to this obligation, and it has only grown over the years. Today, the obligation is universally recognized and we are aware of no state where it is not enforced by means of criminal sanctions
Ballek's proposal for a $50,000 threshold is based on the Second Circuit's holding in United States v. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp., 882 F.2d 656, 663 (2d Cir.1989), that a criminal contempt fine on a corporation which exceeds $100,000 warrants a jury trial. Ballek argues that because $100,000 constitutes ten times the $10,000 petty offense limit on fines for organizations, see 18 U.S.C. §§ 19, 3571(c)(6), (7) (West Supp.1998), the threshold for individuals should likewise be ten times the $5,000 petty offense limit on fines for individuals, see id. §§ 19, 3571(b)(6), (7)
In addition to the lien upon the defendant's property that the United States automatically receives by virtue of an order of restitution, see 18 U.S.C. § 3613(c) (West Supp.1998), the custodial parent may also obtain such a lien, see id. § 3664(m)(1)(B). Further, if the delinquent parent continues to willfully fail to pay his past due child support, or fails to make bona fide efforts to meet his obligation, the United States may seek to have him resentenced. See id. § 3614; § 3664(o)(2)
Home170 f3d 871 united states v. ballek