Opinion ID: 516924
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Interest Rulings

Text: 127 The appeals raise questions concerning interest to be paid on the judgment: (i) whether all pre-judgment interest should be computed from April 18, 1983, the date when the jury found that Pierce breached its subcontract, (ii) whether post-judgment interest is payable on pre-judgment interest, and (iii) whether post-judgment interest should have been reduced from 10 1/2% to 5.63%. 128 These questions are academic with respect to most of the awards contained in the final judgment. However, the award on account of Gilbane's claim for back charges survives and therefore the interest questions must be addressed. 129 A. Date for computing pre-judgment interest: The trial court imposed pre-judgment interest on each award commencing on April 18, 1983, the date the jury found that Pierce breached its subcontract. Gilbane contends that under Delaware law in a contract case interest accrues from the date of the breach. Superior Tube Co. v. Delaware Aircraft Industries, Inc., 60 F.Supp. 573 (D.Del.1945), and that, therefore, the April 18, 1983 date was the correct date from which to compute pre-judgment interest. 130 We conclude otherwise and hold that Delaware law requires that pre-judgment interest be computed from the date of loss, which may or may not be the date of the breach of the contract. Getty Oil Co. v. Catalytic, Inc., 509 A.2d 1123, 1128 (Del.Super.1986); see also the admiralty case, Slater v. Texaco, Inc., 506 F.Supp. 1099 (D.Del.1981). The case will, therefore, be remanded so that the district court can determine the appropriate date from which pre-judgment interest should run on the award in favor of Gilbane in the amount of $269,699. 131 B. Post-judgment interest on pre-judgment interest: Pierce and Federal urge that it was error for the district court to award post-judgment interest on the pre-judgment interest awarded to Nemours and Gilbane. This contention is academic insofar as it relates to the awards in favor of Nemours. It may be correct as a matter of law insofar as it relates to the award in favor of Gilbane. Summa Corp. v. Trans World Airlines, Inc., 540 A.2d 403, 410 (Del.1988). However, we conclude that the district court correctly refused to grant Pierce's and Federal's motion for relief from the interest award because it was filed too late. 132 More than a year and a half after judgment was entered in this case Pierce and Federal filed a motion for relief from the award of so-called compound interest. The district court denied the motion on the grounds that (i) it did not have jurisdiction because the case was pending before this court, (ii) the motion was not properly brought under Rule 60(a) as it did not involve a clerical error, and (iii) it was untimely under Rule 60(b)(1) as it was not filed within one year from the date of final judgment. 133 The motion was clearly untimely and Pierce and Federal advanced no sound reason in the district court why the court should exercise its discretion to relieve them from the final judgment's provisions imposing post-judgment interest on pre-judgment interest. Consequently the district court's order will be affirmed. 134 C. Reduction of post-judgment interest rate: Apparently unaware of the effect of 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1961 concerning post-judgment interest on federal court judgments, Pierce and Federal agreed to inclusion in the final judgment of a 10 1/2% post-judgment interest rate. On September 14, 1987, 364 days after entry of the final judgment, they moved pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 60(b)(1) and 60(b)(6) seeking to have the district court change the post-judgment interest rate. Ultimately the district court granted the motion, reducing the post-judgment interest rate from 10 1/2% to 5.63%. 135 The matter is governed by 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1961 notwithstanding that this is a diversity action. Nemours and Gilbane appeal the district court's order granting Pierce's and Federal's motion on the ground that it was not timely brought. 136 A motion for relief under Rule 60(b) is directed to the sound discretion of the trial court. Giordano v. McCartney, 385 F.2d 154, 155 (3d Cir.1967). We do not find that the district court abused its discretion by entertaining the motion in the circumstances of this case. It is a particularly complex matter. The final judgment was entered with considerable haste after the jury verdict, and at the time the Rule 60(b) motion was filed the district court still had not ruled on Pierce's and Federal's motions for new trial and for judgment notwithstanding the verdict. 137 A Rule 60(b)(1) motion must be filed within a reasonable time and in any event not more than one year after the judgment was entered. We cannot say that the district court abused its discretion when it found that the motion was filed within a reasonable time and considered it on the merits. For that reason the order granting the motion will be affirmed.