ExxonMobil Oil Corporation v. TIG Insurance Company

Background

The Second Circuit remanded the case for the sole purpose of calculating interest that accrued after the arbitration award through the date of judgment. The district court then ordered the parties to submit a proposed amended judgment. They could not agree because they disputed when the judgment was meaningfully established—specifically, when prejudgment interest stopped accruing and post-judgment interest began.

The district court referred that dispute to Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn. Her Report and Recommendation advised calculating post-award prejudgment interest from August 17, 2019, through May 26, 2020, resulting in a total prejudgment-interest award of $1,744,519.50. The parties had fourteen days to object, but neither party filed an objection.

Court’s Analysis

Because there were no objections, the court reviewed the Report and Recommendation for clear error. The court found none. It agreed that the judgment was meaningfully established and supported by the evidence on May 26, 2020, when Judge Ramos confirmed the arbitration award and entered judgment for ExxonMobil. The court noted that this judgment had not been disturbed by the district court or set aside after appellate review.

The court rejected ExxonMobil’s suggestion that Ninth Circuit authority should guide the date calculation instead of decisions from the Second Circuit. It also rejected ExxonMobil’s argument that equitable considerations should affect the date when interest began to run, explaining that the Second Circuit had expressly rejected considering equities for that purpose.

Disposition

Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil adopted the Report and Recommendation in its entirety as the opinion of the court. The adopted calculation sets post-award prejudgment interest from August 17, 2019, through May 26, 2020, totaling $1,744,519.50.