Opinion ID: 1434840
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Inclusion of Compound and Prejudgment Interest in Damages (Issues 6 & 7)

Text: The amount of compensatory damages that the jury awarded, however, mistakenly included compounded, prejudgment interest. [11] This Circuit has determined a jury verdict should not be remitted by a court `unless it is beyond the maximum damages that the jury reasonably could find to be compensatory for a party's loss.' Gregory v. Shelby County, 220 F.3d 433, 443 (6th Cir.2000) (quoting Jackson v. City of Cookeville, 31 F.3d 1354, 1358 (6th Cir.1994)). An award must fall if, for example, it is beyond the range supportable by proof or is the result of a mistake. Id. Here, it is evident that the jury award was the result of a mistake. Plaintiffs acknowledged in a post-trial brief that the amount that they requested from the jury included compounded prejudgment interest. See J.A. 1592. The jury awarded the same exact amount that plaintiffs requested, which Dr. Einhorn's testimony about the proper amount of damages excluding interest does not support. (Dr. Einhorn's testimony supported a total award to Westbound without interest of $688,523.) The district court noted that the jury was not required to accept the testimony of Dr. Einhorn and instead was permitted to exercise its own judgment, but this ignores the fact that the jury must rest its decision on the evidence, and if Dr. Einhorn's testimony about damages was the only evidence upon which the jury could rely, then the jury could not properly have awarded damages in a higher amount. Because plaintiffs mistakenly asked for a damages award that included compounded prejudgment interest, and the jury mistakenly awarded plaintiffs just that, we reverse this portion of the district court's order and remand so that the district court may offer Westbound a remittitur in the amount of damages excluding compounded prejudgment interest.