Court Opinion

ID: 9766354
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 04:42:48.907982+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:30:21.607367
License: Public Domain

SAUFLEY, J.,
with whom CLIFFORD and ALEXANDER, JJ., join, dissenting.
[¶ 14] I concur in the Court’s analysis and conclusions with one exception. I do not agree with the Court’s conclusion that the trial court exceeded the bounds of its discretion when it waived post-judgment *837interest. Thus, I must respectfully dissent to part B of the Court’s opinion.
[¶ 15] As the Court has accurately noted, post-judgment interest was created by the Legislature as an “enforcement tool” to provide motivation for the party ordered to pay over monies to do so promptly. There is no question that by delaying payment over time, the responsible party may succeed in diminishing the value of the successful party’s award. The Legislature has, however, also authorized the trial court to waive the payment of post-judgment interest in whole or in part in instances where the nonprevailing party demonstrates good cause for that waiver. 14 M.R.S.A. § 1602-A.
[¶ 16] In the matter before us, the non-prevailing party did just that. It petitioned the court for a waiver of post-judgment interest. In support of that petition, the Town asserted that it had offered “complete satisfaction” to the plaintiff, and the plaintiff refused to accept that satisfaction. The Court has today concluded that the trial court exceeded the parameters of its discretion when it determined that the Town’s offer of complete satisfaction, accompanied by a request that A.F.A.B. sign a release, does not demonstrate good cause.
[¶ 17] On the unusual facts of this case, I would defer to the exercise of the sound discretion of the trial judge on the question of good cause. We have made it clear that in those instances when a court is authorized to act upon its discretion, a decision either way may be affirmed if the court correctly understood the facts and law relevant to the exercise of that discretion. See Boit v. Brookstone Co., Inc., 641 A.2d 864, 865 (Me.1994). A court that is called upon to exercise its discretion must understand the factors and the law material to its decision, and must weigh the factors accordingly. We have consistently deferred to the court’s ability to give weight to the appropriate factors and have found abuse only where the court has made a “serious mistake” in weighing those factors. See West Point-Pepperell, Inc. v. State Tax Assessor, 1997 ME 58, ¶ 7, 691 A.2d 1211, 1213 (quoting Coon v. Grenier, 867 F.2d 73, 78 (1st Cir.1989) (citation omitted)).
[¶ 18] No such serious mistake is present here. The record before the trial court chronicled a tale of extensive litigation. The litigation in this matter began in 1989. This is the fourth time that this case has been before us. The Town’s desire to avoid further expense and litigation through a release was neither unreasonable nor unfounded. There is no dispute that the Town did, in fact, pay $36,807.76 to the federal government on the IRS lien and did, in fact, offer to pay to A.F.A.B. the entire remaining amount due so long as the A.F.A.B. signed a release acknowledging that the judgment it had obtained had been satisfied. Amost five years later, A.F.A.B. filed a petition for reissuance of the writ of execution. As the court has today concluded, the Town’s tender of the remaining $14,844.47 to AF.A.B. in 1995 represented a tender of the entire amount due to A.F.A.B. at that time. Thus, the legislative policy of providing a disincentive for delay of payment is not called into play here. A.F.A.B. chose not to accept the amount tendered and apparently chose not to take any further action for several years. On these facts, the court’s determination that good cause existed for waiving post-judgment interest cannot be seen to exceed the bounds of its discretion.8 I *838would affirm the trial court’s decision not to award post-judgment interest.

. Although the Town could have deposited the $14,844.47 with the court, pursuant to M.R. Civ. P. 67, there is no indication in this record that the Town’s offer of the full amount to *838A.F.A.B. in September of 1995 was anything other than a good faith offer and that the Town was able and willing to immediately turn the monies over to A.F.A.B.