Jo Ann Howard & Assoc., PC v. National City Bank, No. 19-2554 (8th Cir. 2021)
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The Eighth Circuit affirmed the district court's award of damages after a bench trial that resulted in a judgment in favor of appellees and a group of state guaranty associations where the district court ruled that Allegiant Bank breached its fiduciary duties in administering seven trusts, and that PNC was liable for the breach as the successor-in-interest to National City Bank, which in turn had acquired Allegiant.
The court concluded that the district court did not clearly err in calculating the compensatory damages award; even assuming for the sake of analysis that Missouri law does require damages to be readily ascertainable to award prejudgment interest, the court still found no basis for reversal of the award of prejudgment interest; assuming that Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(a) was not the proper source of authority for the district court's correction of a clerical mistake, any error was harmless; considered in its entirety, the evidence supports an award of punitive damages; and the district court did not abuse its discretion in awarding attorney's fees and PNC's claims to the contrary are unavailing.
Court Description: [Colloton, Author, with Wollman and Shepherd, Circuit Judges] Civil case - Trusts. In action alleging defendant PNC's predecessor, Allegiant, breached its fiduciary duties and abetted fraud in the handling of pre-paid funeral policy funds, a jury awarded the plaintiffs $355.5 million in compensatory damages and $35.5 million in punitive damages. On appeal, this court determined that the plaintiffs' claims arose under trust law rather than tort law and should have been tried to the court. Jo Ann Howard & Assoc., P.C. v. Cassity, 868 F.3d 637 (8th Cir. 2017). On remand, the district court held a bench trial and concluded Allegiant had breached its fiduciary duties to the beneficiaries of the plans and that PNC's defenses failed to relieve Allegiant of liability. The court awarded damages for losses to the trusts under Restatement (Second) of Trusts, Sec. 205(a), but declined to award damages for profits made from the breach under Sec. 205(b). The court awarded compensatory damages, punitive damages, prejudgment interest, and attorneys' fees. The district court did not err in calculating the amount of compensatory damages to be awarded to plaintiffs; assuming that Missouri law does require damages to be readily ascertainable to award prejudgment interest in a matter in equity, the damages here were readily ascertainable and the court did not err in awarding prejudgment interest or in correcting a mistake in the calculation; the evidence supported an award of punitive damages; award of attorneys' fees affirmed.
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