Case Name: Charlotte Louise WILSON, individually, as Personal Representative of the Estate of Darold Floyd Wilson, and as Guardian of Jolene Kay Wilson, Craig Allen Wilson and Jerry Todd Wilson; Plaintiff, Gail L. Clay, individually, as Personal Representative of the Estate of Norman Lee Clay, and as Guardian of Karri Lynn Clay and Boyd Lee Clay, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. BURLINGTON NORTHERN RAILROAD COMPANY, a corporation, Defendant-Appellee
Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
Jurisdiction: United States
Decision Date: 1986-10-10
Citations: 803 F.2d 563
Docket Number: No. 84-1536
Parties: Charlotte Louise WILSON, individually, as Personal Representative of the Estate of Darold Floyd Wilson, and as Guardian of Jolene Kay Wilson, Craig Allen Wilson and Jerry Todd Wilson; Plaintiff, Gail L. Clay, individually, as Personal Representative of the Estate of Norman Lee Clay, and as Guardian of Karri Lynn Clay and Boyd Lee Clay, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. BURLINGTON NORTHERN RAILROAD COMPANY, a corporation, Defendant-Appellee.
Judges: 
Reporter: Federal Reporter 2d Series
Volume: 803
Pages: 563–568

Head Matter:
Charlotte Louise WILSON, individually, as Personal Representative of the Estate of Darold Floyd Wilson, and as Guardian of Jolene Kay Wilson, Craig Allen Wilson and Jerry Todd Wilson; Plaintiff, Gail L. Clay, individually, as Personal Representative of the Estate of Norman Lee Clay, and as Guardian of Karri Lynn Clay and Boyd Lee Clay, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. BURLINGTON NORTHERN RAILROAD COMPANY, a corporation, Defendant-Appellee.
No. 84-1536.
United States Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit.
Oct. 10, 1986.
See also, 10th Cir., 804 F.2d 607.
Gregory R. Piché of Spurgeon, Haney & Howbert, P.C., Colorado Springs, Colo., for plaintiff-appellant.
Albert J. Givray of Doemer, Stuart, Saunders, Daniel & Anderson, Tulsa, Okl. (C. William Kraft, III, John L. Pilon and James P. Gatlin, on the brief, Denver, Colo.), for defendant-appellee.
Before McKAY, SETH and TIMBERS, Circuit Judges.
Honorable William H. Timbers, United States Circuit Judge for the Second Circuit, sitting by designation.

Opinion:
SETH, Circuit Judge.
Plaintiff-appellant, Gail Clay, appeals the denial by the district court of her motion for prejudgment interest in an action for wrongful death brought under the Federal Employer's Liability Act, 45 U.S.C. § 51-60. The trial court denied Mrs. Clay's motion noting appellant's failure to cite any persuasive authority supporting such an award. We agree.
The facts giving rise to this action are as follows. Appellant's husband, Norman Clay, who was a brakeman on the Burlington Northern Railroad, was killed on July 3, 1981 in a train accident caused by a bridge washout. Appellant brought this wrongful death action in the United States District Court for the District of Colorado under 45 U.S.C. § 51. On November 14, 1983 the trial court entered an amended judgment pursuant to a jury verdict in favor of appellant in the amount of $690,000. Pending a retrial of a co-plaintiff's action which was also ordered by the court, Mrs. Clay' moved for an award of prejudgment interest. After denying appellant's motion, the district court certified the judgment for appeal to this court. The only issue presented by appellant is whether prejudgment interest may be awarded in actions arising under the Federal Employer's Liability Act, 45 U.S.C. § 51.
It seems that although this question is a novel one for this court and the United States Supreme Court has yet to consider it, this same issue has been considered in other circuits. The result of our review of those previous cases, ever since the FELA was enacted almost 80 years ago, indicates a unanimous conclusion that Congress did not intend to provide prejudgment interest under the FELA. See e.g., Lindsey v. Louisville & Nashville Railroad Co., 775 F.2d 1322 (5th Cir.); Kozar v. Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Co., 449 F.2d 1238 (6th Cir.); Powers v. New York Central Railroad Co., 251 F.2d 813 (2d Cir.); Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and P. Ry. Co. v. Busby, 41 F.2d 617 (9th Cir.).
Reference to the statute itself in order to resolve this issue is of limited assistance. The FELA is silent on the issue of prejudgment interest or any type of interest. The only federal statutory provision on the recoverability of interest in general is 28 U.S.C. § 1961 which "relates only to interest recoverable on a judgment itself. It has nothing to do with the question of whether prejudgment interest shall be allowed as part of the compensation awarded to make the injured party whole." Louisiana & Arkansas Railway Co. v. Export Drum Co., 359 F.2d 311, 317 (5th Cir.) (emphasis in original). In Rodgers v. United States, 332 U.S. 371, 68 S.Ct. 5, 92 L.Ed. 3, the Supreme Court directed consideration in such instances to the federal statute controlling the action and the underlying congressional purpose. 332 U.S. at 373-74, 68 S.Ct. at 6, 7.
Both parties agree that at the time of its enactment in 1908 the FELA was a radical departure from the common law duties owed an employee by his employer. By eliminating many common law defenses any one of which could defeat an injured employee's action, Congress insured that workers would be compensated for injuries resulting from railroad negligence. And, as appellant points out, these sweeping departures from the established common law are evidence of a "general congressional intent . to provide liberal recovery for injured workers____" Kernan v. American Dredging Co., 355 U.S. 426, 432, 78 S.Ct. 394, 398, 2 L.Ed.2d 282. However, it is another matter to imply from certain of Congress' express departures from the common law in 1908 a legislative intention that then equally radical departures be later made by judicial fiat.
In light of the observation earlier that the FELA represented a radical departure from the common law in a number of different respects it is useful to recall that at the time the common law most uniformly rejected the imposition of prejudgment interest. See Burrows v. Lownsdale, 133 F. 250 (9th Cir.); Missouri & Kansas Telephone Co. v. Vandervort, 71 Kan. 101, 79 P. 1068. This court finds some indication of legislative intent in Congress' failure to expressly abrogate that principle in passing the FELA when it did so to other well established doctrines. The omission by Congress in the FELA of such an express statement indicates to us that Congress did not intend to provide for prejudgment interest. Congress, in our vjew, reached a balance as to the many considerations before it on this then novel legislation and this we should not disturb.
Appellant contends that this failure to specifically address the matter when combined with the already mentioned overall intention of the FELA to provide liberal recovery to injured workers is evidence of an intention by Congress to allow federal courts to implement such remedies as necessary. In support of appellant's petition to now implement in FELA cases the additional remedy of prejudgment interest she cites the "dramatic and extraordinary" change regarding the importance of interest in our modern society. Additionally, appellant contends that the imposition of prejudgment interest would greatly reduce trial delays thereby improving court efficiency and, finally, that the application of interest to the judgment from the date of injury would more accurately compensate injured workers for their loss.
This court does not intend to unduly discount the obviously significant impact which interest and other determinants of the time value of money have on our modern economy. However, we are not in a position to assess the degree to which the heightened importance of interest has been either "dramatic" or "extraordinary." As mentioned earlier in this opinion the notion of interest and the time value of money was not an alien concept to Congress in 1908. We cannot assume an intention on the part of Congress that the federal judiciary should implement the additional remedy of prejudgment interest when the courts subjectively determine that the prime rate has attained a "dramatic" or "extraordinary" level. Further, in the context of the FELA where Congress has crafted a then unique scheme of compensation separate from the common law we are hesitant to impose another remedy against the employers which may alter the nature of the congressionally determined employer-employee relationship. Accordingly, it seems that the awarding of prejudgment interest under the FELA by federal courts pursuant to their "equitable powers" is an inappropriate method of imposing a remedy not granted by Congress. The Jones Act is not of help on this point.
In addition to being susceptible to the same criticism as above, appellant's additional contentions of reducing trial delays and more accurately compensating plaintiffs for their injuries present infirmities of their own. The increasing length of trial delays is a regrettable reality and may be a sign of the times much as is the influence of interest rates. However, although no doubt the delays are to some extent the fault of the specific parties to an action, it is impossible to attribute the entire blame for such delays upon the defendant. Moreover, the length of trial delays seems as closely related to the size of the burgeoning civil docket in federal court. Even assuming that allowing prejudgment interest would effectively reduce the length of trial delays we don't think it is a sufficient reason to here reach a different conclusion.
Appellant's contention that prejudgment interest would more accurately compensate injured workers by recognizing the worker's deprivation during the period from injury to judgment itself presents another reason counseling hesitation in this matter. Obviously the damages awarded to a successful plaintiff represent a composite of a number of different elements. Not all of these elements are properly to be considered for prejudgment interest and whether any one of these various components should be included and how they are to be separated is more properly a consideration for Congress.
Indeed, appellant has presented numerous reasons in support of her petition for prejudgment interest, arguments which the court feels may be more effective when directed at another branch of the federal government. Congress itself may be persuaded to change its initial determination on prejudgment interest. However, this court is not sufficiently enamored with the arguments proffered by appellant to lead us to depart from nearly 80 years of precedent consistently interpreting the FELA as not permitting prejudgment interest. Although looking to congressional action or inaction in the face of subsequent developments in society and the common law is usually ambiguous assistance at best, in this instance there seem to be no indications that Congress has swayed from its initial determination to not permit prejudgment interest in FELA cases.
Accordingly, the order of the district court denying appellant's motion for prejudgment interest is AFFIRMED.