Opinion ID: 553328
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: interest on attorney's fees

Text: 55 Appellees claim that they are entitled to interest on attorney's fees. We recognize that a number of circuits have held that late payments of attorney's fees accrue interest under 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1961. See Transpower Constructors v. Grand River Dam Auth., 905 F.2d 1413, 1423-24 (10th Cir.1990); Fleming v. County of Kane, Ill., 898 F.2d 553, 565 (7th Cir.1990); R.W.T. v. Dalton, 712 F.2d 1225, 1234-35 (8th Cir.1983), cert. denied, 464 U.S. 1009, 104 S.Ct. 527, 78 L.Ed.2d 710 (1983); Copper Liquor, Inc. v. Adolph Coors Co., 701 F.2d 542, 544 (5th Cir.1983) (per curiam); Perkins v. Standard Oil Co. of Cal., 487 F.2d 672. 56 This circuit has assumed that the district court will take into account delays in payment in determining its fee award. In Garrity v. Sununu, 752 F.2d 727 (1st Cir.1984), we rejected plaintiffs' requests for interest on fees or a second increase in the lodestar to reflect a two-year delay in payment. Nonetheless, we stated, In determining the lodestar and awarding the 20 percent upward adjustment, the district court recognized that it was entitled to take account of 'possible delays in payment' and, for all we know, did so. Id. at 740. See also Furtado v. Bishop, 635 F.2d 915, 920 (1st Cir.1980) (delay in payment warrants an upward adjustment of the lodestar figure). 57 Because we have vacated the fee award and remanded it for recomputation, the district court should determine whether there should be added to the attorney's fees an amount for delay in payment. REMAND ORDER 58 1. The prejudgment interest award is stricken. 59 2. Post-judgment interest on the damages awarded shall be computed at the statutory rate from October 7, 1986, the date of the original judgment, to May 3, 1989. The sums deposited with the district court shall be excluded from the interest computation. The interest shall be computed as follows: 60 Interest on the full compensatory damages award ($307,239.31) shall accrue from October 7, 1986, the date of the original judgment, to November 3, 1987, the date of the deposit of $23,783. 61 Interest on $283,456.31 ($307,239.31-$23,783) shall accrue from November 3, 1987, to November 6, 1987, the date of the deposit of $212,803.23. 62 Interest on the balance of $70,653.08 shall accrue from November 6, 1987, to May 3, 1989, the date the judgment was paid in full. 63 3. No payment has yet been made in satisfaction of the punitive damages award of $2,800; therefore, interest on the punitive damages award shall accrue from October 7, 1986, the date of the original award, to the date of payment. 64 4. Attorney's fees shall be computed de novo. The district court may factor into its award an increase for delay in payment. 65 Remanded for further proceedings consistent herewith. 66 Each party shall bear its own costs on appeal. 67