Opinion ID: 1405642
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 26

Heading: In connection with Roxas's battery and false imprisonment claims, the circuit court acted within the scope of its discretion in denying prejudgment interest from the date of Roxas's first arrest, inasmuch as the jury may have tailored its award to account for the passage of time.

Text: Prejudgment interest is awardable at the discretion of the court pursuant to HRS § 636-16 (1993). Eastman, 86 Hawai`i at 26-27, 946 P.2d at 1322-23. HRS § 636-16 provides that, [i]n awarding interest in civil cases, the judge is authorized to designate the commencement date to conform with the circumstances of each case, provided that the earliest commencement date in cases arising in tort, may be the date when the injury first occurred and in cases arising by breach of contract, it may be the date when the breach first occurred. Prejudgment interest is essentially compensatory in nature and is given on money demands as damages for delay in payment, being just compensation to the plaintiff for a default on the part of his debtor. Sussel v. Civil Serv. Comm'n, 74 Haw. 599, 618-19, 851 P.2d 311, 321, reconsideration denied, 74 Haw. 650, 857 P.2d 600 (1993) (quoting Lucas v. Liggett & Myers Tobacco Co., 51 Haw. 346, 349, 461 P.2d 140, 143 (1969)). See also Amfac, Inc., 74 Haw. at 137, 839 P.2d at 36 (The purpose of [HRS § 636-16 is] to allow the court to designate the commencement date of interest in order to correct the injustice when a judgment is delayed for a long period of time for any reason, including litigation delays. (Citations and internal quotation marks omitted.)). The plaintiffs-appellees maintain, somewhat hyperbolically, that prejudgment interest is virtually mandatory and is a right recognized at common law. More moderately, the plaintiffs-appellees acknowledge that this court has stated that prejudgment interest is to be allowed wherever it is properly proved. Sussel, 74 Haw. at 618, 851 P.2d at 313 (citing City and County of Honolulu v. Caetano, 30 Haw. 1 (1927)). However, it is clearly within the discretion of the circuit court to deny prejudgment interest where appropriate, for example, where: (1) the defendant's conduct did not cause any delay in the proceedings, see Amfac, Inc., 74 Haw. at 137, 839 P.2d at 36; (2) the plaintiff himself has caused or contributed to the delay in bringing the action to trial, see Schmidt v. Board of Directors of the Association of Apartment Owners of the Marco Polo Apartments, 73 Haw. 526, 534-35, 836 P.2d 479, 484 (1992); or (3) an extraordinary damage award has already adequately compensated the plaintiff, see Leibert v. Finance Factors, Ltd., 71 Haw. 285, 293, 788 P.2d 833, 838 (holding that it was an abuse of discretion for the circuit court to award prejudgment interest to a treble damages award), reconsideration denied, 71 Haw. 664, 833 P.2d 899 (1990). In this case, the circuit court declined to grant prejudgment interest to the Roxas Estate because (1) the jury might have incorporated the value of Roxas's general damages from the date of his initial arrest and torture to the date of his death in its damage award in connection with the battery and false imprisonment claims and (2) the jury's damage award was sufficient to compensate the estate for any loss of interest. The plaintiffs-appellees are correct that it was Marcos's own actions in engineering a new constitutional provision, which conferred immunity from suit on himself, that caused the protracted delay in commencing the present action. Imelda, however, counters that the plaintiffs-appellees contributed to the delay as wellreiterating her arguments that Roxas was under no duress and could freely have sued in the Philippines. As discussed supra, section III.B, Imelda's arguments are without merit. The delay factor, therefore, militates in the plaintiffs-appellees' favor. As noted above, however, in Amfac, Inc., this court reiterated that there may be reasons separate and apart from whether the defendant was responsible for delay that may enter into the calculus relating to the allowance of prejudgment interest. In the present case, the circuit court premised its ruling on its determination that the jury may already have compensated the Roxas Estate for litigation delay. The plaintiffs-appellees argue that the circuit court's basis constituted improper speculation into the jury's intentions. The jurors were not instructed to factor interest into their damage award, the plaintiffs-appellees note, and, therefore, it would be improper to impute an unknown intention to them. As Imelda observes, however, the plaintiffs-appellees themselves implicitly invited the jury to tailor its damages award to include any delay in compensation. In his closing argument, Cathcart urged that: the issue is what is reasonable compensation for the pain, the suffering and the anxiety and the fears which [Roxas] endured from January 25th, 1971, a period of time when, as Felix Dacanay described it, he was hunted like an animal. Where his life with his family was interrupted. Where he feared for his family's life and where ultimately he went down to Viscayan to get away from the possible danger and all that for a period January 25, 1971 until he died on May 24th, 1993. That's 22 years, if my math is correct. Obviously the pain, the suffering and the anxiety was more intense while he was being threatened and tortured. When General Ver came up to him and said: Roger, don't make any trouble. The threat's clear. When he lived in fear for the rest of his life and had to hide much of his life or go to remote or distant places much of his life. What's it worth? It's worth what you say it's worth. Imelda further notes that the special verdict form directed the jury to state the amount of actual damages, if any, to be awarded to the plaintiff Estate of Roger Roxas to compensate it for any injuries or damages suffered during his lifetime as a result of his false imprisonment and/or battery. (Emphasis added.) In light of the foregoing, it was not unreasonable for the circuit court to infer that the jury actually compensated Roxas for his post-imprisonment suffering. Thus, although Ferdinand was clearly responsible for causing the delay in the adjudication of the plaintiffs-appellees' claims, given the wording of the special verdict form, Cathcart's legitimate exhortation of the jury to factor Roxas's post-imprisonment years of suffering into its damage award, and the magnitude of the sum$6,000,000.00actually awarded to the Roxas Estate in damages, we cannot say that the circuit court exceeded the bounds of reason in declining to award prejudgment interest to the Roxas Estate. Accordingly, we hold that the circuit court did not abuse its discretion by denying the plaintiffs-appellees' motion for prejudgment interest with respect to the Roxas Estate. That portion of the circuit court's October 18, 1996 order is affirmed.