Opinion ID: 715727
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Prudential Limitations

Text: 15 The Fichter Group also argues that it has standing under the VWPA to challenge the recision of the restitution order. In making this argument, the Fichter Group contends that the VWPA contemplates that the right to restitution order, once awarded ... gave [the Fichter Group] the right to enforce that judgment as though it were a civil judgment. 16 In order to establish standing under a statute, a party must meet judicially-created prudential limitations, including the requirement that the interest sought to be vindicated falls within the zone of interests protected by the law invoked. Allen v. Wright, 468 U.S. 737, 751, 104 S.Ct. 3315, 3324, 82 L.Ed.2d 556 (1984). Under the zone-of-interests test a litigant lacks 'a right of review if the plaintiff's interests are so marginally related to or inconsistent with the purposes implicit in the statute that it cannot reasonably be assumed that Congress intended to permit the suit.'  Grundhoefer, 916 F.2d at 792 (quoting Clarke v. Securities Indus. Ass'n, 479 U.S. 388, 399, 107 S.Ct. 750, 757, 93 L.Ed.2d 757 (1987)). The relevant inquiry, therefore, is whether the Fichter Group's interests fall within the zone of interests created by the VWPA. 17 Congress made clear the extent and purposes of the VWPA. Nowhere in the statute does Congress suggest that the VWPA was intended to provide victims with a private remedy to sue or appeal restitution decisions, and nothing in the statute's legislative history supports such a reading, either. See H.Rep. No. 681(I), 101st Cong., 2d Sess. 177 (1990), reprinted in 1990 U.S.C.C.A.N. 6472, 6583; H.Rep. No. 390, 100th Cong., 1st Sess. 11 (1987), reprinted in 1987 U.S.C.C.A.N. 2137, 2147; H.Rep. No. 1030, 98th Cong., 2d Sess. 86 (1984), reprinted in 1982 U.S.C.C.A.N. 2515, 2537. Instead, Congress's purpose in enacting the VWPA was to assist victims in collecting the restitution orders entered by the court. 1982 U.S.C.C.A.N. at 2539; see also 1987 U.S.C.C.A.N. 2137, 2147. Even though the VWPA allows victims to enforce restitution orders as if they were civil judgments, the VWPA did not transform restitution orders into civil judgments. See 18 U.S.C. § 3663(h); Johnson, 983 F.2d 216, 220 (stating that the [VWPA] makes civil remedies available to collect restitution; it does not make restitution a civil judgment, which the district court cannot revoke). We conclude that the VWPA does not contemplate giving private parties the right to appeal restitution orders or any modification to restitution orders. Consequently, the Fichter Group does not have standing under the VWPA to challenge the district court's order rescinding restitution payments.