Court Opinion

ID: 9884990
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-10-06 03:27:10.800165+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:48:43.166156
License: Public Domain

BAKER, Judge,
concurring in result in part and dissenting in part.
I concur with the result reached by the majority as to Parts 1, 2, and 3, but I believe that my colleagues have made this matter more difficult than it needs to be with respect to Part 4. Therefore, I respectfully dissent.
Statutory interpretation is the responsibility of the court and within the exclusive province of the judiciary. Golden Rule Ins. Co. v. McCarty, 755 N.E.2d 1104, 1106 (Ind.Ct.App.2001). The first, and often the last, step in interpreting a statute is to examine the language of the statute. Id. When confronted with an unambiguous statute, we do not apply any rules of statutory construction other than to give the words and phrases of the statute their plain, ordinary, and usual meaning. Id. Moreover, statutes must be read as a whole, and statutory language must be read and interpreted in context. Schafer v. Sellersburg Town Council, 714 N.E.2d 212, 218 (Ind.Ct.App.1999). In doing so, we consider the goals of the statute and the reasons and policy underlying its enactment. Elec. Specialties, Inc. v. Siemens Bldg. Tech., Inc., 837 N.E.2d 1052, 1057 (Ind.Ct.App.2005).
On its face, Indiana Code section 22-4-17-9 is clearly separated into two parts. The first sentence, by its own language, deals solely with immunity in criminal prosecutions. The second sentence, by its own language, applies a privilege to "any civil action except actions to enforce the provisions of this article." Penny's argument that she is not subject to "any penalty or forfeiture" because of her compelled testimony comes from the first sentence, which, again, deals only with criminal actions. But the action at issue is civil in nature; it is an action to enforce the provisions of the unemployment benefits article. The forfeiture of wage credits is part of the action under this article Ind.Code § 22-4-16-1. Thus, the language prohibit, ing penalties and forfeitures does not apply in this case. I would therefore uphold the Board's decision to cancel Penny's wage credits whether or not this amounts to a forfeiture.