Opinion
NO. C09-1431 TEH.
April 6, 2010
ORDER GRANTING MOTION FOR DEFAULT JUDGMENT
This matter came before the Court on April 5, 2010, on Plaintiffs' motion for default judgment. At the hearing, the Court orally ruled that default judgment would be entered and that Plaintiffs would be awarded the claimed reimbursements for benefits paid, as well as the claimed attorneys' fees and costs. These amounts are $22,645.89 and $11,540.48, respectively.
The only remaining question is the rate at which pre-judgment interest should be awarded. Plaintiffs calculated simple interest at 10% but consented at the hearing to applying the statutory 52-week United States Treasury bill rate. As the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has explained:
We have held that the interest rate prescribed for post-judgment interest under 28 U.S.C. § 1961 is appropriate for fixing the rate of pre-judgment interest "unless the trial judge finds, on substantial evidence, that the equities of that particular case require a different rate." . . . Section 1961 provides that the post-judgment interest rate shall be equal to "the coupon issue yield equivalent (as determined by the Secretary of the Treasury) of the average accepted auction price for the last auction of fifty-two week United States Treasury bills settled immediately prior to the date of the judgment." 28 U.S.C. § 1961.Nelson v. EG G Energy Measurements Group, Inc., 37 F.3d 1384, 1391 (9th Cir. 1994) (citation omitted). The most recent weekly rate, as of April 2, 2010, was 0.43%. See Federal Reserve Statistical Release H. 15 Selected Interest Rates, http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h15/data/Weekly_Friday_/H15_TCMNOM_Y1.txt (last visited Apr. 5, 2010). "Interest shall be computed daily to the date of payment . . . and shall be compounded annually." 28 U.S.C. § 1961(b). Based on the premiums paid by Plaintiffs, as documented in Exhibit B to the Declaration of Kim Biagi, and the Court's calculations, the pre-judgment interest due to Plaintiffs is $313.03.
Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that judgment shall be entered in favor of Plaintiffs and against Defendant in the amount of $34,499.40. Interest shall accrue daily on the unpaid balance of the judgment at the annual rate of 0.43%, compounded annually, until the judgment is fully paid. The Clerk shall enter judgment and close the file.
IT IS SO ORDERED.