Shoemaker v. Sliger

187 So. 3d 863, 2016 Fla. App. LEXIS 1975, 2016 WL 542861
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedFebruary 12, 2016
DocketNo. 5D14-3871
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 187 So. 3d 863 (Shoemaker v. Sliger) 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
Shoemaker v. Sliger, 187 So. 3d 863, 2016 Fla. App. LEXIS 1975, 2016 WL 542861 (Fla. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

EDWARDS, J.

In entering the amended final judgment in the underlying wrongful death action, the trial court determined that when the amount of the judgment is modified on appeal, Florida Rule of Appellate Procedure 9.340(c) requires post-trial interest to accrue from the date of the verdict, rather than from the date of the original judgment. For the reasons discussed below, we disagree and reverse.

On October 11, 2011, a jury rendered a verdict of $7,509,510 in the underlying medical malpractice action, finding Dr. James R. Shoemaker1 (“Appellant”) forty percent at fault for Stephen Sliger’s death. Appellant and his co-defendants filed a motion to limit non-economic damages pursuant to section 766.118(2), Florida Statutes (2011). The motion argued that, pursuant to section 766.118, the noneconomic damages in this case should be limited to a total of $500,000. Sonia Sliger, as Personal Representative for Stephen Sliger’s Estate (“Appellee”), filed a response to that motion in which she alleged that “[sjection 766.118’s damage caps violate several provisions of the Florida and U.S. constitutions and cannot be enforced.”

On February 29, 2012, after a series of hearings on the post-trial motions, the trial court entered a final judgment against Appellant in the amount of $1,386,260, representing Appellant’s portion of fault in the medical malpractice action and applying section 766.118’s cap on the noneconomic damages.

After the final judgment was rendered, both parties appealed to this Court, with Appellee challenging the trial court’s reduction of the noneconomic damages. This Court issued a per curiam affirmance in November 2013. See Shoemaker v. Sliger, 127 So.3d 525 (Fla. 5th DCA 2013) (unpublished table decision). In March 2014, the Florida Supreme Court decided Estate of McCall v. United States, 134 So.3d 894 (Fla.2014). In McCall, the supreme court held that “section 766.118 violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Florida Constitution under the rational basis test.” 134 So.3d at 901. Thus, the court determined that the “statutory cap on wrongful death noneconomic damages fails because it imposes unfair and illogical burdens on injured parties when an act of medical negligence gives rise to multiple claimants.” Id. at 901.

In May 2014, following the McCall decision, this Court withdrew its prior opinion and “reverse[d] that part of the judgment under review that reduced the award of wrongful death non-economic damages to Sliger pursuant, to section 766.118.” Shoe[865]*865maker v. Sliger, 141 So.3d 1225, 1225 (Fla. 5th DCA 2014). The Court then “remand[ed]' the case to the trial court to enter an amended judgment in accordance with the jury verdict without any reduction under section 766.118” and affirmed “as to all other issues raised by the parties.” Id.

Appellee then moved the trial court for entry of an amended final judgment without the section 766.118 reduction. Attached to Appellee’s motion was a proposed amended final judgment that contained a paragraph awarding Appellee interest from the date of the jury verdict, October 11, 2011. Appellant filed a response in opposition contending that the amended final judgment proposed by Ap-pellee was incorrect, and asserting that Appellee was entitled to interest on the entire amount from the date of the original judgment, but was not entitled to post-verdict, pre-judgment interest. The trial court entered an amended final judgment on remand, awarding Appellee interest from the date of the jury verdict. Appellant timely appealed the amended final judgment.

Ordinarily, • interest on a money judgment in a tortease begins to accrue on the date that the trial court enters the judgment fixing the amount of the monetary award. See Amerace Corp. v. Stallings, 823 So.2d 110, 112 (Fla.2002); see also § 55.03, Fla. Stat. (2014). On the other hand, when a jury trial concludes without the entry of a money judgment, and an appeal is taken that results in- the appellate court reversing and remanding for entry of a money judgment, rule 9.340(c) sets the post-trial interest accrual date as the date of the verdict. The rule states:

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.

Fla. R.App. P. 9.340(c); But for the rule, in a case where a money judgment was not entered below, interest would only begin to accrue after the court of appeal ruled, after the appellate motions for rehearing were resolved, after the mandate issued, and once the judgment for money damages was finally entered, regardless1 of how many months intervened between the verdict and entry of the money judgment. Delaying interest in that fashion would financially punish the successful appellant by depriving post-trial interest for a considerable time. The rule avoids this unfair result.'

However, where the trial court originally entered a money judgment and only the amount of the award is modified after an appeal,, there is no logical reason to employ the rule. .Under those circumstances, there is already a starting point for the accrual of interest, namely the date on which the original judgment was entered. Amerace, 823 So.2d 110. The rule, by its plain language, applies only when the reversal calls for entry of .a money judgment; it does not address,.and therefore does not apply, where the mandate requires entry- of an amended final judgment that only changes the amount of the monetary award.

In Amerace, the jury found the defendant sixty percent' at fault for the plaintiffs’ personal injury and awarded them $1 million. 823 So.2d at 111. The trial court subsequently ordered a remittitur of the amount awarded for medical bills. Id. at 112. Plaintiffs accepted the remittitur and the trial court entered final judgment approximately five months after the jury’s verdict. Id. The trial court also denied the plaintiffs’ request for interest between the vérdict date and the final judgment date Id. On appeal, the Second District Court of [866]*866Appeal “affirm[ed] the final judgment in all respects except the issue of prejudgment interest.” Id. (alteration in original). The Florida Supreme Court quashed the Second District’s decision and held that “the trial court properly denied the plaintiffs’ request for interest between the verdict date and the final judgment date.” Id. at 114.

In reaching this conclusion, the supreme court discussed Green v. Rety, 616 So.2d 433 (Fla.1993), in which the trial court “sua sponte withheld judgment and entered an order of remittitur, and an alternative order for a new .trial on damages.” Amenace, 823 So.2d at. 113. On appeal, the Third District Court of Appeal “decreased the amount to be remitted” and provided plaintiff “with a reasonable time within which to 'accept or reject it.” Id. Once the remittitur was accepted, the trial" court entered á final judgment and awarded post-trial interest from the date of the verdict. On appeal, the Third District certified the question to the Florida Supreme Court which held that “pursuant to [rule 9.340(c) ], the date of the verdict controls and all interest should be computed from the date of the verdict:” Id. (citing Green, 616 So.2d at 436) (footnote omitted). The Amerace court distinguished Green by finding that “[t]he controversy in

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Bluebook (online)
187 So. 3d 863, 2016 Fla. App. LEXIS 1975, 2016 WL 542861, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/shoemaker-v-sliger-fladistctapp-2016.