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PIERCE v. CENTRAL MAINE POWER CO.3/11/1993
hensive, and as I was specially assigned to the cases and am familiar with the issues." We review the denial of a hearing and the determination of interest for an abuse of discretion or other error of law. Boudreau v. Manufacturers & Merchants Mut. Ins. Co., 588 A.2d 286, 289 (Me. 1991).
We have interpreted 14 M.R.S.A. ยง 1602 (Supp. 1992) as presuming that the prevailing party is entitled to prejudgment interest on the rationale that the presumption "encourages the defendant to conclude a pretrial settlement of clearly meritorious suits." Simpson v. Hanover Ins. Co., 588 A.2d 1183, 1185 (Me. 1991). The presumption is lost, however, to the extent that the plaintiff causes delay. "The right to interest is not absolute but is subject to enlargement or loss due to the parties' conduct of the proceedings. . . ." Id. at 1185 n. 3 (citing Batchelder v. Tweedie, 294 A.2d 443, 444 (Me. 1972)). The history of this litigation, however, does not warrant the waiver. Plaintiffs settled with Grove Manufacturing two weeks before the commencement of their trial with CMP, undermining the contention that the settlement with Grove Manufacturing provided capital for plaintiffs' litigation. There is no reason to suspect that a trial against CMP would not have occurred in the absence of any settlement with Grove, nor is there a finding that the action against Grove was frivolous. The fact of settlement warrants an inference that Grove was properly included as a defendant. The presumption that plaintiffs are entitled to prejudgment interest is not overcome by delay caused by their litigation against a proper defendant. The reasons given by the court do not support a conclusion that the plaintiffs caused unwarranted delays sufficient to overcome the presumption of their entitlement to prejudgment interest. Although we find no abuse of discretion in failing to hold a hearing, we find that the court abused its discretion by partially waiving prejudgment interest on these facts.
The entry is:
Remanded with instruction to modify the judgments to award
prejudgment interest from the date on which the complaints were
filed. As modified, judgments affirmed.
All concurring.
Page 1 2 3 4 Maine Personal Injury Attorneys
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