Short answer. Yes. Restitution is ordered with an allowance for any deterioration or diminution in value, as determined by the court. Getting the thing back does not close the account; the drop in what it is worth, and the losses that followed from the crime, remain separate claims.
What the law says
The restitution of the thing itself must be made whenever possible, with allowance for any deterioration or diminution of value as determined by the court.
Revised Penal Code, Article 105 — Restitution Of The Thing. Read the full provision →
The allowance is written into the rule itself
The article does not treat return of the thing as the end of the matter: the restitution of the thing itself must be made whenever possible, with allowance for any deterioration or diminution of value as determined by the court. Two ideas sit in that sentence. The thing goes back if it still can, and the gap between what it was and what it now is remains to be answered for. A vehicle returned with its engine ruined, or a phone returned unusable, has been restored in name only, and the Code recognises that.
Deterioration and diminution of value are not the same thing
The wording covers both physical damage and a fall in worth that is not about a dent. A thing can come back intact and still be worth markedly less because it was stripped of its papers, because a set is now incomplete, or because it was altered so that it can no longer be used as it was. Both are within the allowance. What the article does not do is fix the sum: it says the amount is determined by the court, on the evidence, so the figure is argued about rather than read off a rule.
Damage to the thing is only one of the heads
Civil liability arising from a felony reaches further than the thing, as Art. 104 sets out, and a claim confined to the item is often a claim understated. If the loss of the thing cost you earnings, forced you to hire a replacement, or made you spend money you would not otherwise have spent, those are losses flowing from the crime rather than damage to the property, and they are pursued under their own head. Art. 106 also directs the court, in fixing reparation, to consider the special sentimental value of the thing to the injured party.
Prove the before as well as the after
Claims of this kind are usually decided on the strength of the comparison, and the weak half is nearly always the before. Photographs and records showing the item's condition when it was taken are worth as much as evidence of its state on return, so gather both, and have the damage assessed by somebody independent rather than estimating it. Keep every receipt for repair, replacement or hire, in date order. Give it to counsel while the case is live, because a valuation put forward after the record has closed will usually be too late to help.
Related provisions
- Revised Penal Code, Article 104 — What Civil Liability Includes
- Revised Penal Code, Article 105 — Restitution Of The Thing
- Revised Penal Code, Article 106 — How Reparation Is Made