9-4 Pre-Judgment Interest

• Jurisdiction: United States

9-4 Pre-Judgment Interest

A successful legal malpractice plaintiff is entitled to pre-judgment interest from the date of loss. In Chadwick v. Corbin,³² however, the amount of damages was disputed and there was no date certain on which such damages were owed. As a result, the First District Court of Appeal upheld the trial court's ruling denying pre-j udgment interest.³³

In contrast, the requirements for pre-judgment interest were satisfied in de Manio v. Burns.³⁴ The court first explained: "[W]hen a verdict liquidates damages on a plaintiff's out-of-pocket, pecuniary losses, [the] plaintiff is entitled, as a matter of law, to prejudgment interest at the statutory rate from the date of that loss."³⁵ Turning to the verdict, the court found that it awarded pecuniary losses as of a date certain.³⁶ As such, the awarding of pre-judgment interest was proper.

Likewise, the courts in Fisher v. Ackerman³⁷ and Tarleton v. Arnstein & Lehr³⁸ awarded pre-judgment interest because the juries liquidated the plaintiff's damages as of a specific date.

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Notes:

^[32] Chadwick v. Corbin, 476 So. 2d 1366 (Fla. 1st Dist. Ct. App. 1985), review denied, 488 So. 2d 67 (Fla. 1986).

^[33] Chadwick v. Corbin, 476 So. 2d 1366, 1368-69 (Fla. 1st Dist. Ct. App. 1985), review denied, 488 So. 2d 67 (Fla. 1986).

^[34] de Manio v. Burns, 642 So. 2d 807 (Fla. 2d Dist. Ct. App. 1994).

^[35] de Manio v. Burns, 642 So. 2d 807, 807 (Fla. 2d Dist. Ct. App. 1994) (citing Argonaut Ins. Co. v. May Plumbing Co., 474 So. 2d 212, 215 (Fla. 1985)).

^[36] de Manio v. Burns, 642 So. 2d 807, 807 (Fla. 2d Dist. Ct. App. 1994). See also Gomez v. Hawkins Concrete Constr. Co., 623 F. Supp. 194 (N.D. Fla. 1985).

^[37] Fisher v. Ackerman, 744 So. 2d 582 (Fla. 2d Dist. Ct. App. 1999).

^[38] Tarleton v. Arnstein & Lehr, 755 So. 2d 758 (Fla. 4th Dist. Ct. App. 2000).