POST-VERDICT INTEREST IN THIS ACTION AGAINST THE NEW YORK CITY TRANSIT AUTHORITY SHOULD HAVE BEEN CALCULATED AT THREE PERCENT PURSUANT TO THE PUBLIC AUTHORITIES LAW (SECOND DEPT).
The Second Department noted that the Public Authorities Law allows only three percent interest from the date of the verdict in this action against the New York City Transit Authority. Plaintiff was injured while driving when a piece of metal fell from elevated tracks through the windshield. The nearly two-million dollar verdict was affirmed:
After a trial on the issue of damages, the jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff and against the defendants in the principal sums of $800,000 for past pain and suffering and $1,000,000 for future pain and suffering over a 15-year period. The defendants appeal from a judgment in favor of the plaintiff and against them in the total sum of $1,967,633.08, including interest in the sum of $64,249.90. * * *
… [T]he judgment incorrectly applied an interest rate in excess of the maximum legal rate of three percent per annum to the plaintiff’s award against the defendants (see Public Authorities Law § 1212[6] … ). We therefore remit the matter … for recalculation of interest at the rate of three percent per annum from the date of the verdict … . Rojas v New York City Tr. Auth., 2019 NY Slip Op 07430, Second Dept 10-16-19