Opinion ID: 78296
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Personal Money Judgments

Text: Chaplin's, Midtown, and Seher all challenge the personal money judgment entered against them regarding Counts Two through Seven. Chaplin's and Midtown both concede that they would be eligible for money judgments of $22,000 and $32,800, respectively. However, they argue that the district court erred by making them jointly liable, along with Seher, for a money judgment of $54,800. [30] We agree with the government that the judgment would be acceptable if we pierced the corporate veil and deemed Chaplin's and Midtown the functional equivalent of a single corporation. However, as previously noted, the district court made no findings regarding whether Chaplin's and Midtown constituted one entity for the purpose of imposing joint and several liability. Furthermore, though courts have affirmed forfeiture orders imposing joint and several liability, those cases appear to involve offenses from which such liability would logically derive, such as conspiracy or aiding and abetting. See, e.g., United States v. Spano, 421 F.3d 599, 603 (7th Cir.2005) (conspiracy); United States v. Pitt, 193 F.3d 751, 765 (3d Cir.1999) (conspiracy); United States v. Benevento, 836 F.2d 129, 130 (2d Cir.1988) (per curiam) (criminal enterprise). The district court imposed the $54,800 money judgment for the Appellants' money laundering and failure to follow reporting requirements, neither of which are the types of offenses for which joint and several liability would be appropriate. In the absence of any clear authority or factual basis for affirming the money judgment against Seher, Midtown, and Chaplin's, we therefore vacate that portion of the forfeiture order and remand for further findings which address whether joint liability is appropriate or whether the corporate veil should be pierced.