800 Adept, Inc. v. Murex Securities, Ltd.

505 F. Supp. 2d 1327, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 27051, 2007 WL 1101238
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Florida
DecidedApril 12, 2007
Docket6:02-cv-1354-Orl-28DAB
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 505 F. Supp. 2d 1327 (800 Adept, Inc. v. Murex Securities, Ltd.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
800 Adept, Inc. v. Murex Securities, Ltd., 505 F. Supp. 2d 1327, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 27051, 2007 WL 1101238 (M.D. Fla. 2007).

Opinion

ORDER

FAWSETT, Chief Judge.

This case comes before the Court for ruling on the following:

1. Motion (And Memorandum) For Entry of Final Judgment, An Award Of Prejudgment Interest And A Permanent Injunction (Doc. No. 430, filed November 8, 2006);
2. Motion And Memorandum To Award Plaintiffs Attorneys’ Fees (Doc. No. 431, filed November 9, 2006);
3. Defendants’ Combined Response To Plaintiffs Motions For Entry Of Final Judgment, An Award Of Prejudgment Interest, A Permanent Injunction, And Attorneys’ Fees (Doc. No. 442, filed November 29, 2006);
4. Plaintiffs Motion And Memorandum To Strike Improper Submissions Contained in Docket No. 442 (Doc. No. 448, filed December 12, 2006); and
5. Defendants’ Opposition To Plaintiffs Motion And Memorandum To Strike Improper Submissions Contained In *1331 Docket No. 442 (Filed At Docket 448) (Doc. No. 452, filed December 26, 2006).

I. Background of the Case

After a twenty-four day trial, a jury found that Defendants, Murex Securities, Ltd., Murex Licensing Corporation, and TARGUS Information Corporation (“the Murex-Targus Parties”), willfully infringed claims from two United States patents owned by Plaintiff 800 Adept, Inc. (“800 Adept”). More specifically, the jury found that the Murex-Targus Parties willfully infringed claims 1-19, 22-27, 29, 31, 34-39, 41, 43, and 46-51 of U.S. Patent No. RE36, 111 (“the '111 Reissue”) and claims 1 and 3-5 of U.S. Patent No. 5,805,689 (“the '689 Patent”). (Doc. No. 425, pp. 1-4). The jury found that such claims of the '111 Reissue and the '689 Patent were not invalid, and the Court determined later that the subject patents were not unenforceable. (Id. at 2-3; Doc. No. 470, filed April 2, 2007). For such infringement, the jury determined that the Murex-Targus Parties should pay $18,000,000.00 in damages to 800 Adept. (Id. at 3). The jury also found that Defendant West Corporation (‘West”) infringed claims 1-19, 22-27, 29, 31, 34-39, 41, 43, and 46-51 of the '111 Reissue. 1 (Id. at 2). The jury found that West did not willfully infringe such claims and that it should pay 800 Adept $48,000.00 in damages. (See Doc. No. 425, pp. 3-4).

800 Adept now asks this Court to (1) award prejudgment interest on its claims, (2) enjoin the Murex-Targus Parties 2 from engaging in further acts of infringement, (3) award enhanced damages against the Murex-Targus Parties, and (4) an award of attorneys’ fees under Title 35 U.S.C. § 285. (Doc. Nos. 430, 431). In addition to the above remedies, 800 Adept also requests that the Court enter final judgment in this case.

II. Prejudgment Interest

800 Adept’s request for prejudgment interest actually concerns two separate issues and two separate bodies of law, although neither 800 Adept nor the Targus-Murex Parties and West bring this to the Court’s attention. The Court considers first 800 Adept’s request for prejudgment interest on its successful state law tort claims and then whether to award prejudgment interest for 800 Adept’s patent infringement claims.

A. Prejudgment Interest For Florida Tort Claims

Florida courts consider prejudgment interest an element of pecuniary damages under the “loss theory.” Argonaut Ins. Co. v. May Plumbing Co., 474 So.2d 212, 215 (Fla.1985); see also Gilchrist Timber Co. v. ITT Rayonier, Inc., 472 F.3d 1329, 1331 (11th Cir.2006). There are two prerequisites to the award of prejudgment interest as damages: (1) an out-of-pocket pecuniary loss and (2) a fixed date of loss. Underhill Fancy Veal, Inc. v. Padot, 677 So.2d 1378, 1380 (Fla. Dist.Ct.App.1996). Prejudgment interest is generally not awarded, however, for tort damages because such damages are generally too speculative to liquidate before final judgment. Lumbermens Mut. Casualty Co. v. Percefull, 653 So.2d 389 (Fla.1995); see also Nat’l R.R. Passenger Corp. v. Roundtree Trasp. & Rigging, Inc., 286 F.3d 1233, 1259 (11th Cir.2002). This rule is not absolute, however, and prejudgment interest may be awarded for tort damages where there has been an ascertainable, out-of-pocket loss occurring at a specific time prior to the entry of the judgment. *1332 See Underhill Fancy Veal, Inc., 677 So.2d at 1380; see also Alvarado v. Rice, 614 So.2d 498 (Fla.1993). Prejudgment interest also can be awarded in tort cases where there is a loss of vested property right, such as claims involving the negligent destruction of a building, the wrongful withholding of sales commissions, or a subcontractor’s mechanic’s lien. See Alvarado, 614 So.2d at 499.

In the instant case, 800 Adept has not shown that it has suffered an ascertainable, out-of-pocket loss related to its state tort claims at a time prior to the entry of judgment or that it suffered the loss of a vested property right. 800 Adept’s theory of liability on its state law claims revolved around Defendants’ actions toward five different third parties whom, at one time, had business relationships with 800 Adept. Ms. Denise Dauphin, the financial expert for 800 Adept on the subject of damages, opined at trial that 800 Adept had lost over $3.4 million in revenues from the Murex-Targus Parties’ tortious interference with these five customers. (October 20, 2006 Testimony of Denise Dauphin, hereinafter “Dauphin Test.”). Of this amount, Ms. Dauphin testified that lost profits represented approximately $2,239,973.00 or, when discounted, $1,863,999.00. (Id.).

The jury, however, determined that 800 Adept should be awarded $2,000,000.00 for the Murex-Targus Parties’ tortious interference, an amount that is greater than Ms. Dauphin’s discounted lost value calculations but less than her lost revenue and her non-discounted lost profits calculation. It is unclear from the verdict whether the jury did not adopt the rate at which Ms. Dauphin discounted 800 Adept’s lost profits; whether the jury did not adopt the rate at which Ms. Dauphin calculated lost profits from 800 Adept’s lost revenue; or whether the jury based its finding of tor-tious interference on less than all of the business relationships asserted by 800 Adept. Critically, because the Court cannot determine from the general verdict which relationship(s) was the basis for the jury’s finding of damages, it also cannot ascertain a date upon which 800 Adept’s liability may spring. See, e.g., Perdue Farms Inc. v. Hook, 777 So.2d 1047,1054-55 (Fla.Dist. Ct.App.2001) (finding that it was impossible to determine any date upon which the plaintiff was injured in a claim for unjust enrichment where the jury could have chosen one of a number of dates but did not).

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505 F. Supp. 2d 1327, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 27051, 2007 WL 1101238, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/800-adept-inc-v-murex-securities-ltd-flmd-2007.