United States of America v. Korff

Filing 9

ORDER granting 8 Motion for Default Judgment. Signed by Chief Judge William T. Moore on 8/6/2009. (mah)

'f IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR r _cAM ii.. THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF GEC J 5t SAVANNAH DIVISION
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Plaintiff, re CASE NO. CV408-244

SARAH A. KORFF, Defendant. N ORDER Before the Court is the United States's Application for Default Judgment. (Doc. 8.) Therein, the Government asks for the entry of judgment in the amount of $11,950.53, the amount of a defaulted student loan and prejudgment interest. (Id.) Defendant Korff has not responded. This case arose from a default on a student loan with remaining principle in the amount of $7359.61. (Doc. 1 at 1.) The Government filed this case on December 10, 2008 to recover the loan. Defendant Korff was served with the Defendant Korff failed to

Complaint on January 8, 2009.

respond to the Complaint and, on February 20, 2009, the Government filed a Motion for Entry of Default. (Doc. 6 . )

The Clerk of Court entered the default on the same day. (Doc. 7.) Subsequently, the Government moved for default

judgment in the amount of $11,950.53--the principle of the

loan ($7,359.61) and interest accrued at the prejudgment interest rate of 7.00% ($4,590.92) There is no right to judgment by default; the matter lies within this Court's discretion. 1Hamm v. DeKalb County, 774 F.2d 1567, 1576 (11th Cir. 1985) . Further, default judgment can only be entered if the record adequately reflects the basis for the award. Adolph Coors Co. v. Movement Aqainst Racism & the Klan, 777 F.2d 1538, 1544 (11th Cir. 1985) . Here, the record is sufficient to

support an award of damages. Specifically, the record contains a Certificate of Indebtedness signed and sworn to under penalty of perjury by United States Loan Analyst Debris Gorham establishing the amount of damages in this case to be $11,950.53--the principle of the loan ($7,359.61) and interest accrued at the prejudgment interest rate of 7.00% ($4,590.92)
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(Doc. 1 at 3.)

The record also

contains proof that Defendant Korff is not protected by the If necessary, the Court may hold a hearing on the matter of default judgment. Fed. R. Civ. P. 55(b) (2). After careful consideration, the Court finds no need to hold a hearing in this case. 2 The 7.00% interest rate used in this case is the original interest rate on the student loan. (Doc. 1 at 3.) After careful consideration, the Court finds this interest rate to be a reasonable and fair prejudgment interest rate. See Werner Enter., Inc. v. Westwind Mar. Int'l, Inc., 554 F.3d 1319, 1328 (11th Cir. 2009) (holding that the rate of prejudgment interest is within the discretion of the district court and that reasonableness and fairness should guide the district court's decision) 2
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Servicemembers Civil Relief Act of 2003.

(Doc. 8.)

Accordingly, the Court finds that it is appropriate to enter default judgment in this case. After careful consideration and based on the above, Plaintiff's Motion for Default Judgment is GRANTED. The Clark of Court is DIRECTED to enter judgment in the amount of $11,950.53--the principle of the loan ($7,359.61) and interest accrued at the prejudgment interest rate of 7.00% ($ 4 , 590.92 ) . The Clerk of Court is further DIRECTED to

close this case. SO ORDERED this 0 day of August, 2009.

WILLIAM T. MOORE, JR., CHIEF JUDGE

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA

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