Opinion ID: 720637
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Post-verdict, prejudgment interest

Text: 25 The award of post-judgment interest is mandatory under 28 U.S.C. § 1961. As the district court noted, the parties agree that Indu Craft is entitled to prejudgment interest for the period before this court's original judgment of August 21, 1992. Indu Craft now seeks an additional award of prejudgment interest for the period between the entry of the original judgment and the entry of the reinstated judgment. The determination of the date when post-judgment interest begins to accrue establishes, in turn, when prejudgment interest (which in this case is calculated at the substantially higher New York rate) ceases to accrue. In this case, more than three years elapsed between the original judgment, which was entered on August 21, 1992, and the reinstated judgment, which was entered on October 19, 1995. 26 In opposition to Indu Craft's request, Baroda principally argues that we previously denied this request on October 4, 1995, when we ruled on Indu Craft's motion to recall the mandate. Our original opinion contained no instructions to the district court concerning the award of post-judgment interest. Therefore, in the judgment of August 18, 1995, the district court only awarded Indu Craft prejudgment interest at 9% under New York law from July 9, 1987 to August 21, 1992, the date the original judgment was entered. On August 29, 1995, Indu Craft moved to recall the mandate to add direction for interest. On October 4, 1995, we directed the district court--without opinion--to award Indu Craft post-judgment interest at the applicable federal rate from August 21, 1992, the date of the original judgment. 27 Notwithstanding our earlier direction, Indu Craft urges us to consider the merits of its argument on the ground that the precise issue was not fully considered by the earlier panel on the motion to recall the mandate. See DeWeerth v. Baldinger, 38 F.3d 1266, 1271 (2d Cir.) (cannot presume that denial of motion to recall mandate constitutes comprehensive rejection on merits of arguments presented), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 115 S.Ct. 512, 130 L.Ed.2d 419 (1994). Even if we were to reconsider our earlier mandate, Indu Craft would fare no better. Although we have previously interpreted 28 U.S.C. § 1961 to require that interest run only from the date of the mandate issued from this court, see Powers v. New York Cent. R.R., 251 F.2d 813, 818 (2d Cir.1958), that interpretation of 28 U.S.C. § 1961 has been superseded by Fed.R.App.P. 37, Smith v. National R.R. Passenger Corp., 856 F.2d 467, 472-73 (2d Cir.1988), which states: 28 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 allowance of interest. 29 This rule gives appellate courts discretion to decide the issue on a case-by-case basis. Smith, 856 F.2d at 473. 30 We reaffirm our earlier holding that post-judgment interest should run from the date of the original judgment. In Andrulonis v. United States, 26 F.3d 1224 (2d Cir.1994), we held that post-judgment interest is to commence from a judgment that is ascertained in [a] meaningful way and is supported by the evidence. Id. at 1233 (citing Kaiser Aluminum & Chem. Corp. v. Bonjorno, 494 U.S. 827, 836, 110 S.Ct. 1570, 1576, 108 L.Ed.2d 842 (1990)). In this case, our reversal of the district court's grant of Baroda's motion for judgment as a matter of law does not change the fact that the judgment was ascertained in a meaningful sense on August 21, 1992, the date on which the original judgment was entered following the jury verdict. 31 Indu Craft's reliance on Kaiser, in which the Supreme Court held that post-judgment interest should accrue from the date of the reinstated judgment, is misplaced. 494 U.S. at 835, 110 S.Ct. at 1575. In Kaiser, the Supreme Court set the date for the commencement of post-judgment interest immediately after the later judgment rather than after the initial judgment, because the district court found that the first judgment was not supported by sufficient evidence on the issue of damages. See id. Unlike Kaiser, here we did not disturb the jury's factual findings on appeal and the original judgment was sufficiently substantiated by the evidence. We reaffirm our earlier directive that post-judgment interest runs from the date of the trial court's first judgment, August 21, 1992, on the principal sum provided in our mandate of February 3, 1995.