Garcia v. Burlington Northern R. Co.
Decision Date | 29 November 1984 |
Docket Number | Civ. A. 82-C-1260. |
Citation | 597 F. Supp. 1304 |
Parties | Joe E. GARCIA, Plaintiff, v. BURLINGTON NORTHERN RAILROAD COMPANY, Defendant. |
Court | U.S. District Court — District of Colorado |
Douglas John Traeger, Denver, Colo., Norman Perl, Michael L. Weiner, Minneapolis, Minn., for plaintiff.
John L. Pilon, Burlington Northern Railroad Co., Denver, Colo., for defendant.
Plaintiff Joe E. Garcia has moved for an award of prejudgment interest following a jury verdict and judgment entered in his favor on February 24, 1984. Defendant Burlington Northern Railroad Company opposes this motion. The parties have briefed the issues thoroughly and oral argument would not assist in resolving them.
On July 14, 1982, Garcia was seriously injured while working on the defendant's tracks near Wheatland, Wyoming. As a result, his left leg was amputated. He sued for damages under the Federal Employers' Liability Act (FELA), 45 U.S.C. § 51, et seq., (1982), and a jury returned a verdict in his favor for $2,000,000.
28 U.S.C. § 1961 (1982). Burlington Northern seeks a strict construction of § 1961 that would preclude awarding prejudgment interest.
Federal courts may exercise equitable powers to grant prejudgment interest in certain cases arising under federal law. Rodgers v. United States, 332 U.S. 371, 68 S.Ct. 5, 92 L.Ed. 3 (1947). Absent an unequivocal statutory prohibition, a trial court may award prejudgment interest where that action would promote the congressional purposes in adopting the legislation giving rise to the claim. Id. at 373, 68 S.Ct. at 6. In Rodgers, the court reviewed the purposes of penalties imposed under the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938, 7 U.S.C. § 1281 et seq., and concluded that prejudgment interest was not appropriate.
The Tenth Circuit, in Casto v. Arkansas-Louisiana Gas Co., 562 F.2d 622, 624 (10th Cir.1977), discussed applicability of § 1961 in diversity cases. Although the court there decided to apply state law governing interest, it noted obiter dicta that § 1961 if applicable, would not have barred prejudgment interest.
Bricklayers' Pension Trust Fund v. Taiariol, 671 F.2d 988 (6th Cir.1982), involved a damages award to employees under the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947 and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 for their employer's failure to deposit sufficient funds into employee trust funds. Relying on a narrow reading of § 1961, the district court denied the plaintiffs' request for prejudgment interest. The Sixth Circuit disagreed, holding that "Section 1961 does not by its silence bar the awarding of prejudgment interest in cases whose jurisdiction is grounded in the resolution of a federal question." Id. at 989 (citing many cases). The opinion declared that "traditional equitable principles would govern the award of such compensation." Id. See also Illinois Cent. R. Co. v. Texas Eastern Trans. Corp., 551 F.2d 943 (5th Cir.1977); Louisiana & Arkansas Railway Co. v. Export Drum Co., 359 F.2d 311, 317 (5th Cir.1966); Marshall v. Burger King Corp., 509 F.Supp. 353, 356 (E.D.N.Y.1981); Cris-Craft Industries, Inc. v. Piper Aircraft Corp., 384 F.Supp. 507, 526 (S.D.N.Y. 1974).1
Plaintiffs in Olsen v. Shell Oil Co., 708 F.2d 976 (5th Cir.1983), sued under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA), 43 U.S.C. §§ 1331-1356 (1982), for injuries and deaths that occurred on a drilling platform ninety miles off the coast of Louisiana. Under the OCSLA, federal law governs fixed structures erected on the outer continental shelf. The OCSLA declares that where federal law is incomplete, the law of the state within which the structure would be located if the state's boundaries were extended seaward is to be applied as federal law. See 43 U.S.C. § 1333(a)(2)(A) (1982). The court reviewed several cases applying § 1961 to OCSLA cases and adopted the "better view" that § 1961 does not prevent a trial judge from granting prejudgment interest where such an award is justified by "other principles of law."2
In the oft cited case of Moore-McCormack Lines, Inc. v. Richardson, 295 F.2d 583, 592-595 (2d Cir.1961), cert. denied, 368 U.S. 989, 82 S.Ct. 606, 7 L.Ed.2d 526 (1962), the Second Circuit recognized that § 1961 does not foreclose prejudgment interest on personal injury awards. Claimants there brought an admiralty action under the Death on the High Seas Act, 46 U.S.C. § 761 et seq., seeking damages for personal injuries sustained when a steamship capsized. The court rejected the "hoary distinction" between liquidated and unliquidated damages and found strong policy considerations supporting a prejudgment interest award. First, the court recognized that the purpose of the Death on the High Seas Act, like that of the FELA, was to provide full compensation to injured parties. Second, the court noted that claimants could not be fully compensated without prejudgment interest. Finally, the court sought to deter tactical use of delay by defendants.3
Examination of the FELA's legislative history suggests that awarding prejudgment interest in FELA cases would promote the beneficent purposes which gave rise to the Act. Congress enacted the FELA to broaden and clarify the law applicable to parties injured while working for railroads, and to abrogate the defenses of assumption of risk and contributory negligence in such cases. See Senate Judiciary Committee, Amending the Employers' Liability Act, S.Rep. No. 661, 76th Cong., 1st Sess. 2 (1939). In Kernan v. American Dredging Co., 355 U.S. 426, 432, 78 S.Ct. 394, 398, 2 L.Ed.2d 382 (1958), the United States Supreme Court explained, "It is clear that the general congressional intent was to provide liberal recovery for injured workers...."
Apparently Congress intended the FELA to replace and expand the state law rights of injured railroad employees. The Senate Judiciary Committee reported on an early version of the Act:
Senate Judiciary Committee, Report on the 1910 Amendments to the Federal Employers' Liability Act, 45 Cong.Rec. 4048 (1910) (quoted in Kozar v. Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Company, 449 F.2d 1238, 1240 n. 1 (6th Cir.1971)).
Courts applying the FELA have recognized the underlying congressional intent by granting full recovery, liberally interpreting the Act to allow damages for medical and hospital expenses,4 lost earnings,5 loss of earning capacity,6 pain and suffering,7 fear and anxiety,8 and aggravation of prior conditions.9
In addition to the non-FELA federal question cases allowing prejudgment interest, many states allow such awards. Several states have statutes granting prejudgment interest in personal injury cases as a matter of right.10 Other states allow prejudgment interest at the court's discretion.11
The legislative history and subsequent judicial applications of the FELA demonstrate that granting prejudgment interest in FELA cases would promote the policies underlying the Act. Under Rodgers v. United States, supra, and the above cited cases allowing prejudgment interest, it seems clear that the law allows this court to exercise equitable powers in the present case to grant prejudgment interest if that course is the one most consistent with justice and with Congress' intent in adopting the FELA.
The cases that have denied prejudgment interest on FELA judgments12 have analyzed the issue in two ways. Some have relied on the outdated argument that prejudgment interest may only be allowed on liquidated damages. They have reasoned that because personal injury damages are not "liquidated" until the jury returns its verdict, prejudgment interest is not appropriate. See, e.g., Chicago, M., St. P. & P. R. Co. v. Busby, 41 F.2d 617, 619 (9th Cir.1930).
Other cases have held that § 1961's silence with respect to prejudgment interest precludes such awards. See, e.g., Louisiana & Arkansas Ry. Co. v. Pratt, 142 F.2d 847, 848 (5th Cir.1944). More recent decisions merely have followed earlier precedents without critical analysis or discussion of the issues in light of modern trends in the law. See, e.g., Faulkenberry v. Louisiana & Arkansas Ry. Co., 551 F.2d 650, 651 (5th Cir.1977).
A 1968 opinion suggested that, "The case authorities disallowing prejudgment interest are somewhat ancient and ... at least a plausible argument could be made for the proposition that prejudgment interest could be awarded in FELA cases in the exercise of sound discretion by the trial court." Gilroy v. Erie-Lackawanna Railroad Company, 44 F.R.D. 3, 4-5 (S.D.N.Y.1968) (bracketed words added) (citing Moore-McCormack Lines, Inc. v. Richardson, supra.)
I conclude that the cases that have relied on a narrow reading of § 1961 to deny prejudgment interest are no longer authoritative. Moreover, the cases that have relied on the distinction between liquidated and unliquidated damages are devoid of any persuasive rationale.
The United States Supreme Court recently rejected the distinction between liquidated and...
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