d'Amico Dry Limited, Plaintiff, v. JPC (2020)

SUMMARY ORDER

In September 2009, plaintiff-appellee d'Amico Dry d.a.c. (“d'Amico”) sought enforcement in the Southern District of New York of a judgment it obtained in the English High Court of Justice on June 19, 2009 against Primera Maritime (Hellas) Limited (“Primera”) following Primera's breach of a forward freight agreement. The district court entered judgment in favor of d'Amico on December 28, 2018, awarding $3,162,552.18 in principal, interest, and legal costs. In a memorandum and order entered April 24, 2019, the district court awarded d'Amico $898,807.44 in attorneys' fees and costs. Defendants-appellants appeal both the judgment and the award of fees and costs. We assume the parties' familiarity with the underlying facts, procedural history, and issues on appeal.

The district court supervised this case for some 10 years. It conducted a non-jury trial, reviewed the evidence, and heard and evaluated the witnesses. It made detailed findings of fact and conclusions of law. We see no clear error in its factual findings, see Beck Chevrolet Co. v. Gen. Motors LLC, 787 F.3d 663, 672 (2d Cir. 2015) (district court's factual findings reviewed for clear error), and no abuse of discretion in its determinations that defendants-appellants waived certain arguments and defenses, see Brown v. City of New York, 862 F.3d 182, 187 (2d Cir. 2017) (district court's decision that an argument was waived reviewed for abuse of discretion). After an independent review of the record and relevant case law, we affirm for substantially the reasons articulated by the district court in its thorough and carefully reasoned decisions. See D'Amico Dry D.A.C. Dry v. Primera Mar. (Hellas) Ltd., No. 09-CV-7840 (JGK), 2019 WL 1863789 (S.D.N.Y. Apr. 24, 2019); D'Amico Dry D.A.C. v. Primera Mar. (Hellas) Ltd., 348 F. Supp. 3d 365 (S.D.N.Y. 2018).

d'Amico seeks its attorneys' fees and costs for litigating this appeal. We agree that fees and costs are warranted, and REMAND to the district court for the limited purpose of calculating reasonable attorneys' fees and costs.

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We have considered defendants-appellants' remaining arguments and conclude they are without merit. For the foregoing reasons, we AFFIRM the judgment and order, and REMAND the case for further proceedings consistent with this order.