Opinion ID: 162724
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: New York Statute of Limitations

Text: 13 Mr. Monts next argues that prosecution under § 228(a) is barred where the statute of limitations of the state issuing the underlying support order renders all or part of the child support arrearage unenforceable. The district court rejected this argument, holding that the default federal statute of limitations found at 18 U.S.C. § 3282 applied instead. 14 Mr. Monts' reasoning on this issue is somewhat involved and proceeds as follows. In New York, the current statute of limitations for an action or proceeding to enforce a support order is twenty years. N.Y.C.P.L.R. § 211(e). However, because this provision only applies to support orders entered after 1987, the default six year statute of limitations applies to support orders entered earlier, as is the case here. N.Y.C.P.L.R. § 213(1). Mr. Monts maintains that when the grand jury returned his indictment on August 16, 2000, the six-year New York limitations period barred any action for past due child support accruing before August 16, 1994. Thus, Mr. Monts argues that his past due balance was effectively reset to zero on August 16, 1994. On that day, his daughter was twelve weeks from her twentieth birthday. Because New York law requires continued support under a support order until the child's twenty-first birthday, Mr. Monts contends that his enforceable support obligation only amounted to the 64 weeks accruing between August 16, 1994 and his daughter's twenty-first birthday on November 9, 1995, a sum total of approximately $3,200.00. 15 As noted above, because Mr. Monts then resided in Virginia, the Virginia Division of Child Support Enforcement (Virginia DCSE) pursued him on behalf of Ms. Cooper in early 1996. After notifying Mr. Monts of his $42,564.07 arrearage and informing him how to contest the enforcement, the Virginia DCSE began garnishing his wages, collecting $6,765.00 until December 14, 1998, when his employment ended. Mr. Monts claims that because Virginia collected more during this period than his total enforceable support obligation ($3,200), he had no obligation that remained unpaid under § 228(a) at the time the indictment was returned in August 2000. 16 Mr. Monts has cast his argument in terms that confuse the two interrelated issues before us involving limitations periods. The first of these issues is whether the indictment itself was presented within the applicable limitations period. The second is whether the New York statute of limitations applies on the facts of this case to negate a required element of the proof under § 228(a), specifically, that a support obligation remained unpaid for at least one year at the time of the indictment. Because resolution of the first issue essentially depends upon our resolution of the second, we proceed directly to the second issue. 17 New York's six year statute of limitations has no bearing on this case given the facts. We are not here concerned with any action or proceeding to enforce the original New York support order in a New York court. Although Mr. Monts did return to New York to obtain a certified copy of the support order upon learning of Virginia's intent to enforce, he never sought review in a New York court to modify or vacate the order. In this case, enforcement of the original New York support order was sought in Virginia. 18 After opening a case in March 1996, the Virginia DCSE sent, and Mr. Monts signed for on March 21, 1996, a certified notice informing him that the Virginia DCSE was now representing Ms. Cooper in the enforcement of the support order and directing him to send all future support payments to the Virginia DCSE. Because the support order was from New York, Ms. Cooper resided in Oklahoma and Mr. Monts resided in Virginia, the Virginia DCSE applied to this case its provisions of the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act (UIFSA), Va.Code §§ 20-88.32 to -88.82, which Congress mandated all states adopt by January 1, 1998. 42 U.S.C. § 666(f). Under UIFSA, the Virginia DCSE applied its own Virginia law and procedures to the enforcement action. 19 Virginia's UIFSA provisions provide for two enforcement methods for an out-of-state support order: administrative enforcement under Article 7 and enforcement after registration under Article 8. Under Article 7, Va.Code § 20-88.65(A), a party seeking to enforce such a support order may send certain required documents to a support enforcement agency, i.e., the Virginia DCSE. Section 20-88.65(B) then allows the agency, without initially seeking to register the order, to use any authorized administrative procedure to enforce the support order, such as wage garnishment or the filing of a lien. It further provides that [i]f the obligor does not contest administrative enforcement, the order need not be registered. If the obligor contests the validity or administrative enforcement of the order, the support enforcement agency shall register the order pursuant to Article 8. Va.Code § 20-88.65(B). The obligor need only contest the administrative enforcement to receive the more rigorous procedural protections provided under Article 8. 20 Opting first to proceed administratively, the Virginia DCSE on April 3, 1996, sent Mr. Monts (1) a notice of proposed wage garnishment action which informed him of his delinquency and the total arrearage and (2) an advanced notice of lien. Trial Tr. at 70-72. The garnishment notice explained in detail how to contest the administrative enforcement: 21 By law, you can contest this wage withholding only if you are not the person cited or there is a mistake in the amount of support owed. If you ... contest this order, you must file a written request for an appeal hearing within 10 days from the date of service of this notice. Send the request to the Hearings Officer, 730 East Broad Street, Richmond, VA 23219-1849. You will be notified of the time and place of the hearing. Pursuant to the section of the Virginia Code cited below, you will be given the opportunity to present your objection to this proposed withholding of earnings. [I]f you ... disagree with the Hearings Officer's decision, the decision can be appealed to a court of the Commonwealth within 10 days of receipt of the Hearings Officer's decision in accordance with the Section of the Code of Virginia referenced below. 22 Addendum to Aplee. Br., Ex. 15A at 2. Furthermore, each notice provided him the case officer's name, phone number and location so he could seek further information relating to the enforcement. Mr. Monts received the notices, because he called and later appeared at the Virginia DCSE office to complain that he owed no arrearage, yet he did not file a protest nor avail himself of any valid procedure to contest the administrative enforcement. After the expiration of the ten-day protest period, wage garnishment began. 23 Had Mr. Monts contested the administrative enforcement, under Virginia law, not only would he have received the hearing and appeal opportunity, the Virginia DCSE would also have been required to register the order and to proceed under Article 8. Va.Code § 20-88.65(B). Article 8 itself would have also guaranteed Mr. Monts a hearing upon request in which he could contest the validity or enforcement of the order and in which he could have asserted any defense or contested the amount of any alleged arrearages. Va. Code § 20-88.71. Because Mr. Monts chose not to contest the administrative enforcement, he has waived his right to do so and cannot now attack the Virginia enforcement in the context of an appeal of his federal criminal prosecution. See, e.g., Micheli v. Director, OWCP, 846 F.2d 632, 635 (10th Cir.1988). We therefore conclude that New York's six year statute of limitations has no bearing on this case given the facts before this court. 24 We turn now to the first limitations issue noted above, namely, whether the indictment itself was time-barred by the applicable statute of limitations. As did the district court, we conclude that because 18 U.S.C. § 228 contains no specific limitations period, the default federal limitations period of five years provided by 18 U.S.C. § 3282 applies to the issue of whether the indictment itself was time-barred. Section 3282 provides that for non-capital offenses, [e]xcept as otherwise expressly provided by law, no person shall be prosecuted ... unless the indictment is found ... within five years next after such offense shall have been committed. 18 U.S.C. § 3282. The offenses charged were the failure to pay a support obligation which remained unpaid for longer than one year (Count 1) or longer than two years (Count 2). Because we determined above that Mr. Monts' obligation to pay support was a viable obligation as determined by the Commonwealth of Virginia in 1996, we conclude that the offenses charged were committed within five years of the indictment, and as such, § 3282 was no bar to the prosecution.