Jury Trial, Right To, Restitution, Mistake of Law, 2, 1
Under Liu v. SEC (2020) 591 U.S. 71, 79, equitable restitution may be awarded to strip a wrongdoer of its ill-gotten gains, but is limited to the wrongdoer’s net profits. Legal restitution, by contrast, is measured by the victim’s loss. Here, hoping to limit the CFPB’s recovery to Cashcall’s net profits, Cashcall agreed to waive its right to a jury trial. It turned out, however, that the restitution that the CFPB sought–the illegal interest and fees that Cashcall’s customers paid was legal restitution and not limited to Cashcall’s net profits. However, since Cashcall expressly waived a jury trial and was fully aware of the nature of the restitution that the CFPB sought but only made a legal mistake in characterizing it, it could not withdraw its waiver and demand a jury trial after the judge awarded $134 million in restitution against it.