I got caught stealing at Macy’s. The court didn’t tell me to pay the $445 civil restitution. Will I get in trouble if I don’t pay it?
The civil restitution demand has nothing to do with your criminal case. This should not affect the agreement you entered into with the criminal court, unless payment was made a specific condition of that agreement.
In order to collect, Macys would have to sue you in civil court and obtain a judgment, then enforce that judgment. In my experience, that is unlikely to happen because the amount is so small. They count on people being afraid and naïve, and a lot of people just pay it anyway.
