F.H. Krear & Co. v. Nineteen Named Trustees

124 F.R.D. 59, 1989 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 851, 1989 WL 5715
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedJanuary 20, 1989
DocketNo. 79 Civ. 6687 (SWK)
StatusPublished

This text of 124 F.R.D. 59 (F.H. Krear & Co. v. Nineteen Named Trustees) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
F.H. Krear & Co. v. Nineteen Named Trustees, 124 F.R.D. 59, 1989 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 851, 1989 WL 5715 (S.D.N.Y. 1989).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

SHARON E. GRUBIN, United States Magistrate.

Plaintiff F.H. Krear & Company brought this case to recover damages for breach- of contract, and the court bifurcated proceedings so that trial would be held first on the merits of that claim and then on the amount of attorney’s fees required to be awarded to the prevailing party pursuant to a contractual provision therefor. The merits of the contract claim were tried to a jury before the Honorable Shirley Wohl Kram of this court in 1985, and plaintiff prevailed. On February 25, 1985 judgment was entered awarding plaintiff $269,400 together with prejudgment interest of $93,-783, for a total of $363,183. Defendants filed an appeal at that time which was dismissed by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals because there had not been a final judgment. The court held that “where attorneys’ fees are a contractually stipulated element of damages, a judgment is not final until the fees have been determined.” F.H. Krear & Co. v. Nineteen Named Trustees, 776 F.2d 1563, 1564 (2d Cir.1985) (per curiam). Thereafter, the parties waived their right to further jury trial and submitted the issue of the amount of attorneys’ fees to Judge Kram for determination, and on March 18, 1986 judgment was entered for attorneys’ fees and expenses in the amount of $452,820.

Defendants then again filed an appeal that was decided by the same circuit panel which had dismissed the first appeal. In an opinion rendered January 20, 1987 the court of appeals affirmed the award on the merits but ordered a reduction of the amount fixed as attorneys’ fees. F.H. Krear & Co. v. Nineteen Named Trustees, 810 F.2d 1250 (2d Cir.1987). The opinion stated, in pertinent parts:

[W]e affirm so much of the judgment as awarded damages, plus interest, of $363,-183 to Krear ...; we vacate the award of attorneys’ fees and remand for entry of a modified judgment awarding Krear $261,518 in attorneys’ fees and expenses ____

810 F.2d at 1254.

The judgment of the district court is affirmed insofar as it awarded Krear $363,183 ... in damages plus prejudgment interest, and is modified to provide that the [defendants] are ordered to pay Krear $261,518 in attorneys’ fees and [61]*61expenses____ As modified, the judgment is affirmed.

Id. at 1270. Similarly, the court of appeals’ mandate, entered January 20, 1987, provided, in pertinent part:

ON CONSIDERATION WHEREOF, it is now hereby ordered, adjudged and decreed that the judgment of said District Court be and it hereby is affirmed as to contract damages modified as to attorneys’ fees and expenses in accordance with the opinion of the court.

The mandate said nothing about post-judgment interest.1 As a result of a dispute between the parties as to what interest was due to plaintiff, plaintiff filed a motion one week later in the court of appeals for “instructions” on interest pursuant to Rule 37 of the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure. That Rule provides:

Unless otherwise provided by law, if a judgment for money in a civil case is affirmed, whatever interest is allowed by law shall be payable from the date the judgment was entered in the district court. If a judgment is modified or reversed with a direction that a judgment for money be entered in the district court, the mandate shall contain instructions with respect to the allowance of interest.

Plaintiff’s motion was denied by the circuit panel on February 11, 1987 without comment by means of a form order. The mandate was entered in this court on March 31, 1987. On May 1, 1987, defendants paid plaintiff the $363,183 and the $261,518, and satisfactions of judgment were filed. With respect to the $363,183, however, the document was entitled a “Partial Satisfaction of Judgment” and contained the notation that “the parties acknowledge that there is an issue as to whether interest remains unpaid.”

That issue, now requiring resolution, is whether plaintiff is entitled to post-judgment interest on the $363,183 and, if so, from what date.2 Defendants take the position that interest was due only from March 31, 1987, the date the court of appeals’ mandate was entered in this court, until May 1, 1987, when the payment of the $363,183 was made. Plaintiff, on the other hand, seeks interest from February 25, 1985, the date the judgment awarding that sum was entered. Under the authorities in this circuit, I find that plaintiff must prevail.

Defendants argue that because the court of appeals modified the judgment of the district court but did not give instructions with respect to interest, under Fed.R. App.P. 37 plaintiff can recover no interest except from the date of the entry of the mandate. Defendants rely upon Briggs v. Pennsylvania Railroad Co., 334 U.S. 304, 68 S.Ct. 1039, 92 L.Ed. 1403 (1948). In Briggs, the plaintiff had obtained a money verdict, but the district court then granted a motion on which it had reserved decision to dismiss the complaint for lack of jurisdiction and entered judgment for defendant. The circuit court reversed the decision and directed entry of judgment on the verdict for plaintiff. The mandate made no provision for interest. On remand, the district court entered judgment, with interest from the date of the verdict. The Supreme Court held that because the circuit court’s mandate contained no direction as to interest, “the trial court had no power to enter judgment for an amount different than directed.” 334 U.S. at 306, 68 S.Ct. at 1040.

Briggs, however, does not govern this case. Herein a money judgment for plaintiff was entered in the district court from which the defendants appealed, while in Briggs the district court’s judgment had been in favor of the defendant and no judgment for money had been entered until remand from the appellate court. The entry of the judgment herein triggered the mandatory provision of 28 U.S.C. § 1961 for interest from that date, a provision with which the Briggs Court did not have to [62]*62deal. Section 1961’s requirement that interest “shall be allowed on any money judgment” did not come into play in Briggs. The Briggs Court simply held that, absent a direction from the circuit court, no interest was recoverable from a date earlier (the date of verdict therein) than that on which the judgment for money was entered. (Presumably plaintiff Briggs did collect interest from the date of the judgment to the date of payment.) The same situation appertained in Powers v. New York Central Railroad Co., 251 F.2d 813 (2d Cir.1958), on which defendants also rely.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Briggs v. Pennsylvania Railroad
334 U.S. 304 (Supreme Court, 1948)
Fassbinder v. Pennsylvania Railroad Company
233 F. Supp. 574 (W.D. Pennsylvania, 1964)
Taylor v. Washington Terminal Co.
308 F. Supp. 1152 (District of Columbia, 1970)
F.H. Krear & Co. v. Nineteen Named Trustees
776 F.2d 1563 (Second Circuit, 1985)
F.H. Krear & Co. v. Nineteen Named Trustees
810 F.2d 1250 (Second Circuit, 1987)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
124 F.R.D. 59, 1989 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 851, 1989 WL 5715, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fh-krear-co-v-nineteen-named-trustees-nysd-1989.