Opinion ID: 480588
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Other Cross-Appeal Issues

Text: 158 Plaintiff IBI makes two further arguments on appeal, the first of which presents a question of some difficulty. 39 159 1. Prejudgment Interest. The district court declined to award prejudgment interest in this case relying on our decision in Locklin v. Day-Glo Color Corp., 429 F.2d 873 (7th Cir.1970), as well as on inferences the district court drew from recent amendments to the Clayton Act. Fishman v. Estate of Wirtz, Nos. 74-C-2814, 78-C-3621 (N.D.Ill. Nov. 20, 1984) (Order Relating to Judgment) at 6-7. The plaintiffs argue that the district court should have awarded prejudgment interest from May 31, 1982, the end of the damage computation period, until the entry of judgment on November 21, 1984. Appellees' Brief at 118-21. For the reasons discussed below, we agree with the district court's denial of prejudgment interest. 160 The rule in this circuit has been that prejudgment interest is not available on judgments for treble damages in federal antitrust cases. Locklin, 429 F.2d at 877. Plaintiffs urge us to reconsider, arguing that the rationale behind Locklin is now discredited. In Locklin, we relied upon the fact that the Clayton Act did not provide for prejudgment interest and upon the presumption that this statutory silence meant that Congress did not wish to authorize such interest. 161 It is true that this circuit's most recent cases have moved away from the position that congressional silence is dispositive on this subject, see, e.g., Myron v. Chicoine, 678 F.2d 727, 733-34 (7th Cir.1982) (prejudgment interest available under Commodities Exchange Act); Taylor v. Philips Industries, Inc., 593 F.2d 783, 787 (7th Cir.1979) (prejudgment interest available under Civil Rights Act of 1964), and, for the reasons stated by the dissent, these appear to be healthy developments. We agree with the district court, however, that in light of the recent amendment of section 4 of the Clayton Act, 15 U.S.C. Sec. 15(a) (1982), which now expressly allows the award of prejudgment interest to private litigants under limited circumstances, 40 we cannot conclude that Congress intended to allow the recovery of prejudgment interest in cases filed prior to the effective date of this amendment. The Clayton Act as amended only permits a private antitrust plaintiff to recover prejudgment interest if the defendant is guilty of unnecessary delay. While we agree with the dissent that prejudgment interest is necessary in some cases if a plaintiff is to be made whole, 41 Congress has not yet provided that prejudgment interest can be awarded as a matter of course to private litigants in antitrust suits. 42 See Strobl v. New York Mercantile Exchange, 590 F.Supp. 875, 882-83 (S.D.N.Y.1984); Smith v. Pro-Football, Inc., 528 F.Supp. 1266, 1275 (D.D.C.1981). We must therefore continue to rely on our decision in Locklin and accordingly, agree with the district court that prejudgment interest should not be awarded in this case. 43 162 2. Equitable Relief. Finally, the plaintiffs contend that the district court abused its discretion when it refused to order the defendants to divest the Bulls franchise as an equitable remedy for their illegal conduct. The court properly weighed the potential benefits to IBI against the harm defendants, third parties and the court would experience and decided not to make the award. It found that the expectations of third parties would be hurt, that judicial administration would be too difficult and that the plaintiffs had an adequate remedy in money damages. This determination was not outside the district court's discretion.