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Chun v. Board of Trustees of the Employees' Retirement System of State of Hawaii1/31/2005
he interests of the class members for whose benefit the common fund was created.
II. INTEREST
14. The [Retirees] during these remand proceedings on attorneys' fees have also requested an award for postjudgment interest for the [Teachers]. The ERS objected on the grounds that the remand was limited to attorneys' fees. This Court agrees with ERS that remand was limited to the issue of attorneys' fees but also agrees with the [Retirees] that there is nothing to preclude their raising the postjudgment interest matter now that the circuit court is reinvested with jurisdiction following remand. Indeed, this court cannot think of a more judicially efficient way to deal with the matter, and requiring [the Retirees] to file a separate motion on that issue would improperly elevate form over content to no good end. Therefore, this Court entertains the request for postjudgment interest.
15. ERS claims the class action cannot admit of a postjudgment interest award because it arises out of an agency appeal involving interpretation of statute and under those circumstances the State has not waived sovereign immunity as to postjudgment interest. This Court rejects that argument. The underlying decision dealt with the amount of money owed [to the R]etirees under the retirement statute. The Hawaii State Constitution, Article 16, Section 2, defines the employee and ERS relationship as contractual, which cannot be diminished. Thus, the action is in the nature of assumpsit, and postjudgment interest accrues pursuant to HRS Section 478-3.
16. ERS cites Harada v. Ellis, 60 Haw. 467 (1979)[,] for the proposition that an award of statutory interest must be predicated on a determined amount, and the final orders and judgment herein did not contain a sum certain. The Court rejects this argument, finding that Harada denied postjudgment interest in a situation where there is no indebtedness (e.g., escrow funds) whereas here the ERS did owe money to class members, and back retirement benefits had to be recalculated and specific amounts were paid. The final orders and judgments in this action determined with specificity how the sum certain was to be calculated and properly left the workout to the ERS. Indeed, proof that the sum certain was clear is found in the declarations of Mr. Shimabukuro on remand in which he specifically set forth the amounts paid pursuant to the final orders. That is precisely the point of an ascertainable common fund which generated the remand proceedings. Thus, Harada is not applicable.
17. Having found that postjudgment interest is applicable herein, this Court now turns to the disputed date of the judgment triggering the statutory interest. ERS argues that the March 11, 1996 judgment cannot be the triggering date because the later order of Judge Nakatani denying [the Retirees'] motion to hold ERS in contempt for failure to pay the judgment expressly found no payment could be made until the attorneys' fees issue was decided (because the fees were to be paid from the judgment award; that is deducted from the common fund).
18. This Court finds that the order denying contempt for failure to pay under those circumstances does not prohibit the date of judgment as to the eachers from being March 11, 1996. Indeed, the Hawaii Supreme Court, in deciding the appeal in [Chun II, 87 Hawaii at 155, 952 P.2d at 1218], described the "final judgment entered on March 11, 1996" as a basis for the appeal. Thus, it is precedent that the final judgment is March 11, 1996.
19. Therefore, this Court concludes that the ERS must pay statutory interest (10% per annum) pursuant to HRS Section 478-3 to the [Teachers] . . . on the amount of the
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 Hawaii Personal Injury Attorneys
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