Approved Ruling Post Judgment Interest
Mr Justice Picken
7 Rolls Building
Fetter Lane
London, EC4A 1NL
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
BUSINESS & PROPERTY COURTS OF ENGLAND AND WALES
COMMERCIAL COURT (KBD)
FINANCIAL LIST
Before
MR JUSTICE PICKEN
BETWEEN:
_______________________________
(1) PALLADIAN PARTNERS LP
(2) HBK MASTER FUND LP
(3) HIRSH GROUP LLC
(4) VIRTUAL EMERALD INTERNATIONAL LIMITED
Claimants
-v-
(1) THE REPUBLIC OF ARGENTINA
(2) THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON (as Trustee)
Defendants
_______________________________
Ms Susan Prevezer KC, Mr Alex Barden and Mr James Shaerf (Instructed by Quinn Emanuel Urquhart and Sullivan UK LLP) appeared on behalf of the Claimants
Mr Ben Valentin KC, Ms Tamara Oppenheimer KC, Mr Samuel Ritchie and Ms Francesca Ruddy (Instructed by Sullivan & Cromwell LLP) appeared on behalf of the Defendant
Mr Adam Zellick KC and Mr Ian Bergson (Instructed by Reed Smith LLP) appeared on behalf of the Defendant
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RULING
(Approved)
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MR JUSTICE PICKEN: I am now dealing with post judgment interest.
Ms Prevezer invites me either to apply the Judgments Act rate of 8%, albeit she recognises that that is not directly applicable given that the judgment is in a foreign currency.
Her primary position, however, is that I should consider a higher rate through essentially application of the same approach as I adopted in my last ruling, when arriving at an uplifted pre-judgment interest rate of Euribor plus 2% plus 3%, in other words 5% over Euribor.
I am not persuaded that it is appropriate to do that.
It is clear from the authorities, in particular Barnett, to which I have previously referred (at [13]) and Novoship UK v Nikitin [2014] EWCA Civ 908 as referred to in the Barnett case, that the appropriate approach at the post-judgment stage is to have regard to the compensatory principle.
Having regard to that and bearing in mind what I had to say in my judgment concerning interest, it seems to me that the right approach is to apply no uplift and to maintain Euribor plus 2%.
Ms Prevezer notes that such an approach, in contrast to an uplifted interest rate, provides no incentive to the Republic to make payment on a speedy basis. However, that is not, from what I can detect, the appropriate approach. The appropriate approach is to have regard to the compensatory principle and, on that basis, I do not consider that a further uplift is warranted.
I should say that it is common ground that what I cannot do is merely apply the Part 36 uplift in a context now which is different to the Part 36 context, namely post-judgment, where whatever should or should not have been done as regards the Part 36 offer, is the past. What is now our focus is the post-judgment context.
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