Opinion ID: 198024
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Judgment Day

Text: 14 Having concluded that Republic's liability for interest on the Fratus judgments began upon their date of final entry, we must resolve a dispute as to that date. According to 28 U.S.C. § 1961, [i]nterest shall be allowed on any money judgment in a civil case recovered in a district court. Both parties acknowledge that on December 14, 1988, the Clerk of the District Court entered eighteen separate judgments pursuant to the jury verdicts in the underlying case. However, the district court subsequently certified to the Rhode Island Supreme Court a lone remaining issue: whether U-Haul could be held jointly and severally liable for the Fratus judgments. See Fratus v. Amerco, 575 A.2d 989, 990 (R.I.1990). Republic claims to be obligated only to pay interest which accrued after the district court acknowledged the Rhode Island Supreme Court's decision on July 2, 1990, through the last judgments entered in the case. 4 According to Republic, interest does not begin to accrue under § 1961 until the entry of final judgment, and the judgments entered pursuant to the verdicts in the underlying case were not final because they were not entered pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 54(b). Under Rule 54(b), when multiple parties or multiple claims are involved in an action, the court may enter final judgment as to one or more of the claims or parties, but on fewer than all of the claims or parties, only upon an express determination that there is no just reason for delay and upon an express direction for the entry of final judgment. Because plaintiffs' claim that U-Haul was vicariously liable for the judgments obtained against Obert and Drywall was certified to the Rhode Island Supreme Court, a judgment was still pending against at least one party to the original litigation. No Rule 54(b) determination was made or requested in conjunction with the December 1988 judgments. 15 We agree that the district court made an error in determining the date from which to compute post-judgment interest. This court has previously determined that, while a judgment need not be final for all purposes in order to begin the tolling of interest under § 1961, see Marshall v. Avis Rent-A-Car of P.R., Inc., 866 F.2d 521, 523 (1st Cir.1989), where a judgment is not final for purposes of Rule 54(b), post-judgment interest does not accrue. See id. at 522-23; Explosives Corp. of Am. v. Garlam Ent. Corp., 817 F.2d 894, 903-04 (1st Cir.1987). Because the December 1988 judgments did not address plaintiffs' claims of vicarious liability against U-Haul, interest could not be imposed until either those claims were resolved via recorded judgment or a Rule 54(b) determination was entered. 16 Thus, although the original judgments were set forth on separate documents in accordance with Fed.R.Civ.P. 58, and were entered on the civil docket by the district court clerk in accordance with Fed.R.Civ.P. 79(a), they were not final judgments to which post-judgment interest could attach. The interest was improperly calculated from December 14, 1988, and, upon remand, post-judgment interest is to be calculated from July 2, 1990, the date that final and appealable judgments were entered in the case. 5