Tru-Art Sign Co., Inc. v. Local 137 Sheet Metal Workers Int'l Ass'n

CourtCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit
DecidedMarch 29, 2017
Docket15-3415-cv
StatusPublished

This text of Tru-Art Sign Co., Inc. v. Local 137 Sheet Metal Workers Int'l Ass'n (Tru-Art Sign Co., Inc. v. Local 137 Sheet Metal Workers Int'l Ass'n) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Tru-Art Sign Co., Inc. v. Local 137 Sheet Metal Workers Int'l Ass'n, (2d Cir. 2017).

Opinion

15‐3415‐cv Tru‐Art Sign Co., Inc. v. Local 137 Sheet Metal Workers Int’l Ass’n

2 In the 3 United States Court of Appeals 4 For the Second Circuit 5 ________ 6 7 AUGUST TERM, 2016 8 9 ARGUED: SEPTEMBER 27, 2016 10 DECIDED: MARCH 29, 2017 11 12 No. 15‐3415‐cv 13 14 TRU‐ART SIGN CO., INC., 15 Plaintiff‐Appellant, 16 17 v. 18 19 LOCAL 137 SHEET METAL WORKERS INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION, 20 Defendant‐Appellee. 21 ________ 22 23 Appeal from the United States District Court 24 for the Eastern District of New York. 25 No. 11 Civ. 1709 – Leonard D. Wexler, Judge. 26 ________ 27 28 Before: WALKER and CABRANES, Circuit Judges, and BERMAN, District 29 Judge.* 30 ________ 31

Judge Richard M. Berman, of the United States District Court for the Southern District of *

New York, sitting by designation. 2 No. 15‐3415‐cv

1 Plaintiff‐appellant Tru‐Art Sign Co., Inc. (“Tru‐Art”) appeals

2 from an order of the United States District Court for the Eastern

3 District of New York (Leonard D. Wexler, J.) denying its motion for

4 interest and costs. Following a jury trial, the district court entered

5 judgment in favor of Tru‐Art. On appeal, we affirmed the finding of

6 liability, vacated the damages award, and remanded for a new trial

7 on damages or, in the alternative, for the district court to offer Tru‐

8 Art a remittitur. Tru‐Art elected a remittitur and thereafter filed a

9 motion for costs as well as prejudgment and postjudgment interest,

10 which the district court denied. Tru‐Art now appeals this decision.

11 Because we find Tru‐Art’s motion for prejudgment interest was

12 untimely under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 59(e) and that Tru‐

13 Art waived its claim for costs pursuant to Local Civil Rule 54.1 of the

14 Eastern District of New York, we AFFIRM the district court’s denial

15 of such interest and costs. We VACATE the district court’s order to

16 the extent it denied postjudgment interest and REMAND for the

17 district court to calculate and award such interest.

18 ________ 19 3 No. 15‐3415‐cv

1 JOSEPH M. LABUDA (Netanel Newberger, on the 2 brief), Milman Labuda Law Group PLLC, Lake 3 Success, NY, for Plaintiff‐Appellant.

4 NATHANIEL K. CHARNY, Charny & Associates, 5 Rhinebeck, NY, for Defendant‐Appellee.

6 ________ 7 8 JOHN M. WALKER, JR., Circuit Judge:

9 Plaintiff‐appellant Tru‐Art Sign Co., Inc. (“Tru‐Art”) appeals

10 from an order of the United States District Court for the Eastern

11 District of New York (Leonard D. Wexler, J.) denying its motion for

12 interest and costs. Following a jury trial, the district court entered

13 judgment in favor of Tru‐Art. On appeal, we affirmed the finding of

14 liability, vacated the damages award, and remanded for a new trial

15 on damages or, in the alternative, for the district court to offer Tru‐

16 Art a remittitur. Tru‐Art elected a remittitur and thereafter filed a

17 motion for costs as well as prejudgment and postjudgment interest,

18 which the district court denied. Tru‐Art now appeals this decision.

19 Because we find Tru‐Art’s motion for prejudgment interest was

20 untimely under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 59(e) and that Tru‐

21 Art waived its claim for costs pursuant to Local Civil Rule 54.1 of the

22 Eastern District of New York, we AFFIRM the district court’s denial 4 No. 15‐3415‐cv

1 of such interest and costs. We VACATE the district court’s order to

2 the extent it denied postjudgment interest and REMAND for the

3 district court to calculate and award such interest.

4 BACKGROUND

5 Tru‐Art prevailed at a jury trial on its claims against

6 defendant‐appellee Local 137 Sheet Metal Workers International

7 Association (“Local 137”) for violations of § 8(b)(4) of the National

8 Labor Relations Act and the jury awarded Tru‐Art $650,000 in

9 damages. On August 27, 2013, the district court entered judgment in

10 favor of Tru‐Art with “no costs or fees awarded to either party.”

11 Tru‐Art did not request interest or costs and it did not move to alter

12 or amend the judgment under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 59(e).

13 Local 137 thereafter appealed, arguing that it was entitled to

14 judgment as a matter of law on certain claims, that the jury

15 instructions were flawed, and that the district court should have

16 ordered a new trial on damages due to an excessive damages award.

17 We affirmed the district court’s judgment as to liability, but vacated

18 the damages on the basis that the award was “clearly excessive” 5 No. 15‐3415‐cv

1 because the evidence at trial only supported damages amounting to

2 $440,000. Tru‐Art Sign Co. v. Local 137 Sheet Metal Workers Intʹl Assʹn,

3 573 F. App’x 66, 69 (2d Cir. 2014) (summary order). We remanded

4 for a new trial on damages and noted that, in the alternative, the

5 district court could offer Tru‐Art the option of accepting a remittitur

6 as to the damages found to be excessive. Id.

7 On October 8, 2014, Tru‐Art accepted a remittitur and, for the

8 first time in the proceedings, requested and received permission to

9 file a motion for costs and prejudgment interest. On October 29,

10 2014, the district court entered a second judgment against Local 137

11 for $440,000—the amount that we had identified on appeal as

12 appropriate. On the same day, Tru‐Art filed its motion for costs,

13 prejudgment interest, and postjudgment interest. Local 137 opposed

14 Tru‐Art’s requests for prejudgment interest and costs.

15 On September 29, 2015, the district court denied Tru‐Art’s

16 requests for prejudgment interest and costs. The district court found

17 that an award of prejudgment interest was not appropriate,

18 reasoning that there were no special circumstances warranting 6 No. 15‐3415‐cv

1 additional compensation and that such an award likely would

2 overcompensate Tru‐Art. The district court also noted that Tru‐Art

3 requested prejudgment interest for the first time at a conference

4 following our remand and the issuance of our mandate. Finally, the

5 district court found that Tru‐Art’s enumerated costs were excessive

6 and noted that Tru‐Art never sought to amend or challenge the first

7 judgment in this case, which did not award costs. The district court

8 did not address Tru‐Art’s request for postjudgment interest. Tru‐

9 Art timely appealed.

10 DISCUSSION

11 We review a district court’s decision to deny prejudgment

12 interest and costs for abuse of discretion. Dattner v. Conagra Foods,

13 Inc., 458 F.3d 98, 100 (2d Cir. 2006) (per curiam); Merck Eprova AG v.

14 Gnosis S.p.A., 760 F.3d 247, 263‐64 (2d Cir. 2014). Determinations of

15 timeliness are generally matters of statutory interpretation, which

16 we review de novo. Boykin v. KeyCorp, 521 F.3d 202, 207 (2d Cir.

17 2008). We may affirm on any basis supported by the record. Coulter

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Tru-Art Sign Co., Inc. v. Local 137 Sheet Metal Workers Int'l Ass'n, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tru-art-sign-co-inc-v-local-137-sheet-metal-workers-intl-assn-ca2-2017.