Opinion ID: 663081
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Of Pre-Judgment Interest.

Text: 37 Conway argues that the district court erred in awarding interest from the date the action was commenced and offers the following dates from which to compute interest: October 28, 1987, when the sellout was completed; February 29, 1988, when Conway learned that the sellout would not be reversed; April 15, 1988, when Conway accrued tax liability as a result of the sellout; and April 28, 1988, when Conway's expert deemed it reasonable for Conway to have digested the sellout and its tax consequences. Conway does not link all his losses to any certain date or time, but seems to indicate that he incurred damages at various times over the course of several months. Moreover, the parties have provided no assistance to us in identifying an appropriate date. 38 Pre-judgment interest in New York is governed by the following rule: 39 Interest shall be computed from the earliest ascertainable date the cause of action existed, except that interest upon damages incurred thereafter shall be computed from the date incurred. Where such damages were incurred at various times, interest shall be computed upon each item from the date it was incurred or upon all of the damages from a single reasonable intermediate date. 40 N.Y.Civ.Prac.L. & R. Sec. 5001(b) (McKinney 1992 & Supp.1994). Accordingly, where damages are incurred at various times after the cause of action accrues, section 5001 grants courts wide discretion in determining a reasonable date from which to award pre-judgment interest. See Cotazino v. Basil Dev. Corp., 167 A.D.2d 632, 562 N.Y.S.2d 988, 991 (1990) (interest accrued as of date of commencement of action). Ginett v. Computer Task Group, Inc., 962 F.2d 1085 (2d Cir.1992), upon which Conway relies, provides no assistance here. Ginett involved a claim for severance benefits based upon a breach of contract where the underlying contract stated the date from which severance should be awarded. The court thus was able to determine the date that the damages were incurred and award interest from that date. 41 Here, Conway himself is uncertain as to when he actually incurred the damages that he sustained. The jury was not asked to specify a date when the damages were incurred, and it therefore was not unreasonable for the court to choose the date of the commencement of the action in accordance with the New York Rule. See Della Pietra v. New York, 125 A.D.2d 936, 510 N.Y.S.2d 334, 337 (1986) (where precise date is ambiguous, date of commencement is appropriate); Gelco Builders & Burjay Constr. Corp. v. Simpson Factors Corp., 60 Misc.2d 492, 301 N.Y.S.2d 728, 731 (Sup.Ct.1969) (where court cannot determine single reasonable intermediate date, date of commencement is appropriate). It cannot be said that the district court abused its discretion in awarding pre-judgment interest from June 9, 1989, the date the action was commenced.