U.S. Alliance Management Corp. v. AIRBUS AMERICAS CUSTOMER SERVICES, INC.

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA CASE NO. 23-CV-21505-PAS U.S. ALLIANCE MANAGEMENT CORP. d/b/a U.S. SECURITY, Plaintiff, v. AIRBUS AMERICAS CUSTOMER SERVICES, INC. f/k/a AIRBUS SERVICE COMPANY, INC., a foreign profit corporation, Defendant. □ ORDER ON PREJUDGMENT INTEREST THIS MATTER is before the Court sua sponte. The Court has considered the parties’ briefs on damages and their expert reports. In an effort to expedite the January 3, 2024 hearing, the Court will rule on Plaintiff US Security’s (“Plaintiff”) claim that it is entitled to prejudgment interest at a rate of 18% per year. In a diversity case, prejudgment interest is a legal issue governed by state law. See, e.g., Venn v. St. Paul Fire & Marine Ins. Co., 99 F.3d 1058, 1066, 1068 n.14 (11th Cir. 1996). To buttress its position, Plaintiff cites Paragraph Seven of the Service Agreement, which in part states, “A late fee of one and a half percent (1.5%) per month may be levied on overdue accounts.” DE 44-2 at 2. However, Plaintiff's reading of Paragraph Seven to justify an annual interest rate of 18% is not supported by the Agreement’s language. The paragraph reflects that the provision cited by Plaintiff applies solely when Plaintiff invoices the client weekly and the client does not pay the amount invoiced, after which the account becomes overdue and a fee of one and a half percent per month is levied. There is no dispute that this is a breach of contract case, not one about an overdue account. As such, the applicable rate is Florida’s statutory rate. The Court would like to have Plaintiffs Response to the argument in Subsection B of Defendant’s brief [DE 45 at 8] that prejudgment interest should be imposed effective as of March 28, 2023, the date of the initial Complaint in this lawsuit [DE 1-2 at 6-9], given the history of the litigation prior to its arrival before this Court. As such, Plaintiff shall file its Response by December 29, 2023. If Plaintiff concedes the issue as to the effective date of prejudgment interest, no briefing is necessary. Accordingly, it is ORDERED that: 1. Prejudgment interest shall be imposed at Florida’s statutory rate. 2. Plaintiff shall file any Response to Defendant’s argument as to the effective date of prejudgment interest on or before December 29, 2023. DONE AND ORDERED in Miami, Florida, this sates of December, 2023. UNITED STATES SENIOR DISTRICT JUDGE cc: The Honorable Lisette M. Reid Counsel of Record