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Brandywine Smyrna, Inc. and BCP Smyrna, Inc. v. Millennium Builders, LLC., 2011 WL 6130804 (Del.)

The Delaware Supreme Court reversed and remanded the trial court's decision denying entitlement to prejudgement interest to plaintiffs, after a jury award in plaintiff's favor. The Court found that plaintiffs were not entitled to prejudgement interest on their tort claims pursuant to 6 Del. C. § 2301(d) because plaintiffs' settlement offer exceeded the total damages awarded by the jury. This ruling was not dispositive, however, because the jury awarded plaintiffs damages on both its tort and contract claims, without reference to what portion of the damage award was attributable to each respective theories of recovery. Therefore, the Court found plaintiffs were entitled to recover prejudgement interest based upon Delaware case precedent awarding such interest as a matter of right for claims arising in contract. The Court disagreed with the trial court that plaintiffs were not entitled to prejudgement interest because the jury's award of “additional interest expenses” constituted an award of prejudgement interest. The Court held the jury's interest award represented an element of damages incurred by plaintiffs upon which plaintiffs are entitled to receive prejudgement interest. The Court remanded the case to the trial court, to determine the amount of prejudgement interest due to plaintiffs.

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