Marine Terminals Corp. v. Paceco, Inc.

This is an action for breach of contract and negligence arising from defendant’s faulty repair of plaintiff’s crane. The jury awarded plaintiff damages of $40,258.91 but the trial court denied plaintiff’s motion for prejudgment interest. This appeal by plaintiff raises the single issue whether prejudgment interest should have been awarded.

Facts

The facts are essentially undisputed and may be briefly summarized: In September 1976, plaintiff contracted with defendant for certain repair work on plaintiff’s container crane located at the Port of Oakland. The repairs included reversing and reinstalling the left side gears on the crane. In early November 1976, the crane was put back in operation, but it soon began to malfunction. In January 1977, the crane had to be shut down because the left gears were excessively worn.

Plaintiff immediately notified defendant. Defendant sent a representative to inspect the crane. Plaintiff hired a consultant, Vincent E. Foell & Company, to inspect the crane at the cost of $352.

Plaintiff then hired an engineering firm, Failure Analysis Associates, to determine the cause of the gear failure. Failure Analysis charged plaintiff $3,450 for…