P. v. Shim
This case involves crimes by an employer relating to an employee’s death while on the job, and the extent to which benefits paid under a workers’ compensation policy can be used to offset direct victim restitution owed under Penal Code sections 1202.4 and 1203.1.[1] The trial court credited the defendant-employer with death benefits paid by his workers’ compensation carrier to the victim’s family, following the general rule that a defendant is entitled to an offset for any amounts paid to the victim by the defendant’s own insurance company. (People v. Bernal (2002) 101 Cal.App.4th 155, 167-168 (Bernal).) The People appeal, arguing that the employer was not entitled to an offset because he had fraudulently failed to report the victim’s wages to the workers’ compensation carrier, meaning that the victim’s employment was not reflected in the insurance premiums. In light of the defendant-employer’s restitution to the workers’ compensation carrier for that fraud (the subject of a separate criminal count in this proceeding), and in light of trial court’s broad discretion to set an appropriate amount of restitution, we affirm.
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