Alexander v. Kalitan

263 So. 3d 70
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedJanuary 9, 2019
DocketNo. 4D17-2716
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 263 So. 3d 70 (Alexander v. Kalitan) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Alexander v. Kalitan, 263 So. 3d 70 (Fla. Ct. App. 2019).

Opinion

Ciklin, J.

This matter is before us for a second time.

Generally speaking, interest on a money judgment in a tort case runs from the date of the judgment. But a rule of appellate procedure provides an exception when a reversal on appeal requires the entry of a money judgment, in which case, interest runs from the date of the verdict. The parties dispute whether this rule applies in the instant case. Because this court's previous reversal required modification of an existing money judgment as opposed to initial entry of a money judgment, we agree with the appellants that the rule does not apply and we reverse.

The appellee, Susan Kalitan ("the plaintiff"), sued the appellants ("the defendants") for medical malpractice and won a sizable jury award, but the trial court reduced it based on a statute capping noneconomic damages in such cases. Consistent with Florida law the trial court imposed post-judgment interest from the *71date of the final judgment at a rate of 4.75 percent, per anum.

On appeal, we found that the statute limiting noneconomic damages in medical malpractice cases was unconstitutional and we reversed. See N. Broward Hosp. Dist. v. Kalitan , 174 So.3d 403, 413 (Fla. 4th DCA 2015). We gave the trial court the following instructions:

The trial court is directed to reinstate the total damages award as found by the jury, though these damages may still be limited by the doctrine of sovereign immunity. Also, in the corrected final judgment, the University is not to be held liable for the damages attributable to the Nurse. As no challenge was raised as to liability in any other context, nor was a challenge raised regarding Plaintiff's economic damages award, those portions of the final judgment are affirmed.

Id. at 413-14.

On remand, the plaintiff moved for entry of an amended final judgment and requested interest to accrue from the date of the verdict citing rule 9.340(c), Florida Rules of Appellate Procedure, which requires interest to run from the date of the verdict when a reversal on appeal requires the entry of a money judgment. In response, the defendants asserted that the rule did not apply, as a money judgment had already been entered prior to the appeal, and thus the reversal did not result in entry of a money judgment but merely modification of a previously entered money judgment.

The trial court was persuaded by the plaintiff's argument and ruled that interest would accrue from the date of the verdict. As support, the trial court cited Hyundai Motor Co. v. Ferayorni , 876 So.2d 680 (Fla. 4th DCA 2004), which the trial court believed to be "right on point." Additionally, the trial court modified the previously entered final judgment so that the interest rate in effect at the time of the verdict, a fixed 6 percent rate, would apply rather than the 4.75 percent rate applied in the original judgment.1

On appeal, the defendants argue that rule 9.340(c) is not applicable when a money judgment is partially affirmed on appeal and remanded only for modification of the damage award. The defendants also argue that the trial court violated their vested right to the lower 4.75 percent interest rate imposed in the original judgment. The plaintiff responds that the trial court correctly found that the appellate rule applied based on opinions interpreting the rule. We "review de novo a trial court's decision regarding judgment interest." R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. v. Evers , 232 So.3d 457, 465 (Fla. 2d DCA 2017).

Our analysis begins with section 55.03(2), Florida Statutes (2008), which governs interest on judgments and provides in pertinent part that "[t]he rate of interest stated in the judgment accrues on the judgment until it is paid." § 55.03(2), Fla. Stat. Section 55.03(3) provides that "[t]he interest rate established at the time a judgment is obtained shall remain the same until the judgment is paid." Our courts have cited to section 55.03 in recognizing that generally, interest accrues from the date judgment is entered. See Amerace Corp. v. Stallings , 823 So.2d 110, 114 (Fla. 2002) (finding the plaintiffs were not entitled to interest from the date of the verdict, and observing that "the plain language of section 55.03... specifically provides that interest does not accrue until *72the date of the judgment , not verdict") (emphasis in original); Evers , 232 So.3d at 465 ("Generally, interest on a money judgment begins accruing on the date of judgment."); Shoemaker v. Sliger , 187 So.3d 863, 865 (Fla. 5th DCA 2016) ("Ordinarily, interest on a money judgment in a tort case begins to accrue on the date that the trial court enters the judgment fixing the amount of the monetary award.").

However, appellate rule 9.340(c) provides an exception to the rule:

Entry of Money Judgment. If a judgment of reversal is entered that requires the entry of a money judgment on a verdict, the mandate shall be deemed to require such money judgment to be entered as of the date of the verdict.

In Green v. Rety , 616 So.2d 433, 434 (Fla. 1993), the Florida Supreme Court addressed application of the rule in a case where the trial court withheld judgment and ultimately ordered a new trial after the plaintiff declined a remittitur. The Florida Supreme Court recognized that the rule applied where the appellate court reversed the trial court and on remand the trial court had no discretion but to enter a money judgment. Id. at 435.

Years later, in Amerace Corp. , 823 So.2d at 113, the Florida Supreme Court addressed the interplay between rule 9.340(c) and the general rule that interest runs from the date of the judgment. Because of post-trial matters, judgment in the Amerace case was entered many months after the verdict was returned, and the plaintiffs sought to have interest run from the date of the verdict.

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Related

D'agostino v. Ccp Ponce
274 So. 3d 1141 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2019)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
263 So. 3d 70, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/alexander-v-kalitan-fladistctapp-2019.