Sheppard v. Crime Victims Compensation Bd., 568 N.W.2d 405 (Mich. Ct. App. 1997)

Cases | Sheppard v. Crime Victims Compensation Bd., 568 N.W.2d 405 (Mich. Ct. App. 1997) | 2018

The victim was robbed and murdered while selling drugs. His daughter applied for crime victims compensation. The Crime Victims Compensation Board denied her claim on the ground that the victim contributed substantially to the infliction of the injury. The victim’s daughter appealed. The appellate court reversed and remanded to the board for reevaluation of the claim in light of 42 U.S.C. § 10602(b)(7) and its balancing test. By applying an absolute rule under Mich. Comp. Laws Ann. § 18.361 that claimants should be denied compensation merely because of their family relationship to the contributing victim, the board acted contrary to congressional mandates. The language of 42 U.S.C. § 10602(b)(7) expressed Congress’s intent that where the claimant is a family member of or shares a residence with an offender, the state compensation program must balance the goals of compensating innocent familial claimants and preventing unjust enrichment of the offender.