Court Opinion

ID: 9931941
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-02-09 18:31:59.023122+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:40:09.459185
License: Public Domain

I dissent from the opinion of the majority upholding the trial court's order of restitution.
The majority interprets "victims" to constitute the "victim's legal heirs [who] brought suit to set aside the will." In my opinion, the "victims" in this case are only those beneficiaries who were named in the victim's first will, which the appellant induced the victim to change. Unless the "heirs" were named as beneficiaries in the first will, they suffered no pecuniary loss from the appellant's actions because they would have inherited nothing under the first will.
From the record before this Court, we cannot determine the identity of the beneficiaries under the first will. I would remand this case to the trial court for an evidentiary hearing to identify those beneficiaries and the specific pecuniary damages, as that term is defined by Ala. Code 1975, §15-18-66, that those particular individuals suffered. *Page 1364