Chambers v. Knight ( 2020 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 JODY F. CHAMBERS, Case No. 18-cv-2906-BAS-BGS 11 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFF’S 12 MOTION FOR AWARD OF v. DAMAGES AND COSTS 13 JOHN A KNIGHT, [ECF No. 19] 14 Defendant. 15 16 On August 13, 2019, the Court granted in part and denied in part Plaintiff’s Motion 17 for Default Judgment Against Defendant Knight. (ECF No. 16.) The Court granted default 18 judgment on Plaintiff’s claim for the reasonable value of services rendered (Claim 6), but 19 concluded it lacked sufficient information to calculate damages and therefore deferred the 20 issue of damages, pre- and post-judgment interest and costs. (Id.) 21 Following this order, Plaintiff filed a detailed Motion for Award of Damages and 22 Costs for Default Judgment on Claim 6 (ECF No. 19), as well as a Hearing Memorandum 23 (ECF No. 22.) On January 7, 2020, the Court held an evidentiary hearing and took the 24 testimony of Ms. Chambers. (ECF No. 23.) 25 Based on this testimony, as well as the exhibits filed in Plaintiff’s Motions, the Court 26 GRANTS Plaintiff’s request for damages in the amount of $82,147.1 The Court finds the 27 1 Plaintiff appears to round up the last bill for $8,647 to $9,000, but the Court declines to do so. Hence the 28 1 reasonable value of services Ms. Chambers provided to Mr. Knight between 2014 and 2018 2 was $183,647, as follows: 3 For services rendered in 2014: $10,000 4 For services rendered in 2015: $10,000 5 For services rendered in 2016: $72,500 6 For services rendered in 2017: $52, 500 7 For services rendered in 2018: $38,647 8 The Court further finds that Ms. Chambers was paid a total of $101,500 for these services, 9 leaving an unpaid balance of $82,147. Furthermore, the Court awards costs in the amount 10 of $655 for the costs of the filing fee and service of process costs on Mr. Knight. 11 Finally, the Court awards prejudgment interest at the rate of 7% per annum from the 12 date the claim arose, or 30 days after Ms. Chambers rendered the services that were unpaid. 13 (See ECF No. 19, pg. 124 detailing the date each claim arose). See Michelson v. Hamada, 14 29 Cal. App. 4th 1566, 1585 (1994) (“the applicable legal rate of prejudgment interest for 15 the compensation damages awarded under both the fraud and contract causes of action is 16 7 percent”). The decision as to whether to grant prejudgment interest and whether to award 17 compound prejudgment interest is one for the trier of fact. Id. at 1586–87. If awarded, 18 prejudgment interest should run from the time the money was lost, “because the duty to 19 compensate plaintiff for her losses arose then.” Id. (quotation omitted.) 20 In this case, Plaintiff incurred losses beginning in 2015. The request for prejudgment 21 interest, beginning 30 days after an invoice was sent detailing the reasonable value of the 22 services she had rendered, is a reasonable one. Hence the Court awards a total of 23 $15,954.15 in prejudgment interest, calculated as indicated in the spread sheet attached as 24 Table 1. The Court is not awarding any compound interest. 25 Accordingly, judgment is entered in favor of Plaintiff and against Defendant Knight 26 on Claim 6 in the amount of $82,147, plus prejudgment interest of $15,954.15 and costs of 27 $655. The Court further awards post-judgment interest beginning from the date of this 28 1 |}Order at a rate of 7% per annum. The remaining counts against Defendant Knight are 2 ||dismissed. The clerk is directed to close the case. 3 IT IS SO ORDERED. 4 /| ) s || DATED: January 8, 2020 ast dg 2 Aipha. 6 6 United States District Judge 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Table 1 Annual Prejudgment Unpaid Balance Today's Days Total Simple Invoice Date Interest Interest Date Outstanding Date Overdue Interest Rate Rate Accrued 101 1/20/2015 2/20/2015 $ 5,000.00 1/8/2020 1783 7.00% 34.1945% $ 1,709.73 102 10/20/2015 11/20/2015 $ 5,000.00 1/8/2020 1510 7.00% 28.9589% $ 1,447.95 103 11/20/2015 12/21/2015 $ 5,000.00 1/8/2020 1479 7.00% 28.3644% $ 1,418.22 104 3/31/2016 5/1/2016 $ 5,000.00 1/8/2020 1347 7.00% 25.8329% $ 1,291.64 110 9/30/2016 10/31/2016 $ 5,500.00 1/8/2020 1164 7.00% 22.3233% $ 1,227.78 111 10/31/2016 12/1/2016 $ 7,500.00 1/8/2020 1133 7.00% 21.7288% $ 1,629.66 112 11/30/2016 12/31/2016 $ 7,500.00 1/8/2020 1103 7.00% 21.1534% $ 1,586.51 113 12/30/2016 1/30/2017 $ 7,500.00 1/8/2020 1073 7.00% 20.5781% $ 1,543.36 118 5/31/2017 7/1/2017 $ 7,500.00 1/8/2020 921 7.00% 17.6630% $ 1,324.73 120 7/31/2017 8/31/2017 $ 5,000.00 1/8/2020 860 7.00% 16.4932% $ 824.66 123 6/1/2018 7/2/2018 $ 10,000.00 1/8/2020 555 7.00% 10.6438% $ 1,064.38 124 6/22/2018 7/23/2018 $ 8,647.00 1/8/2020 534 7.00% 10.2411% $ 885.55 Sum $ 15,954.15