Attard Industries, Inc. v. United States Fire Insurance Company

Filing 182

MEMORANDUM OPINION re: 168 Renewed Motion for Judgment as a Matter of Law and (2) Motion for a New Trial and (3) Motion to Alter or Amend the Judgment. (see Order for details) Signed by District Judge Anthony J Trenga on 11/9/10. (tfitz, )

IN T H E U N I T E D S T A T E S D I S T R I C T C O U R T FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF VIRGINIA

Alexandria Division

ATTARD INDUSTRIES, INC., Plaintiff,
v.

No. I:10cvl21 (AJT/TRJ)

UNITED STATES FIRE INSURANCE CO. Defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

On August 27, 2010, following a four day trial, a j u r y returned a verdict in favor
o f Plaintiff Attard Industries, Inc. ("Attard") against Defendant United States Fire

Insurance Co. ("USFIC") in the amount o f $1,872,430 plus prejudgment interest running
from January 1 8 , 2 0 0 7 . Judgment in that amount was entered on September 1 5 , 2 0 1 0

(Doc. No. 163). In response, USFIC filed a (1) Renewed Motion for Judgment as a
M a t t e r o f Law; (2) Motion for a N e w Trial; and (3) M o t i o n to A l t e r or A m e n d the

Judgment (Doc. No. 168), in which it challenges the legal sufficiency o f the verdict and
the date from which the j u r y awarded prejudgment interest. For the reasons discussed

below, the Court concludes that as a matter of law prejudgment interest against a surety,
such as USFIC, cannot accrue before a beneficiary, such as Attard, makes its first
demand for payment under a surety bond, which occurred in this case on October 20,
2009. T h e Court will a c c o r d i n g l y a m e n d the j u d g m e n t entered on the verdict but
otherwise denies USFIC's motions.