JOANNA SEYBERT, District Judge.
Pending before the Court is plaintiff Sunoco, Inc.'s ("Plaintiff") motion for damages, proposing a formula for the calculation of contract damages incurred in this case (the "Damages Motion," Docket Entry 82) and Magistrate Judge Gary R. Brown's Report and Recommendation ("R&R"), recommending that this Court grant Plaintiff's motion, (Docket Entry 88). Defendant 175-33 Horace Harding Realty Corp. ("Defendant") has filed Objections to Judge Brown's R&R. (Docket Entry 89.) For the reasons that follow, the Court overrules Defendant's Objections and adopts Judge Brown's R&R in its entirety.
The Court assumes familiarity with the facts of this case, which are detailed in the Court's prior orders.
In its Damages Motion, Plaintiff elected to recover damages under its breach of contract theory and submitted a proposed calculation of its damages. (Damages Mot. at 1-2.) Plaintiff also submitted invoices as proof of the post-trial remediation expenditures it incurred. (
On August 4, 2015, the undersigned referred Plaintiff's motions to Judge Brown for an R&R, (Docket Entry 87), and Judge Brown issued his R&R on December 23, 2015 (Docket Entry 88). The R&R recommends that the Court enter Judgment consistent with Plaintiff's calculation in its original Damages Motion. (R&R at 7-8.) Contrary to Defendant's contention that prejudgment interest should have been calculated from the date Plaintiff actually paid its remediation invoices, Judge Brown found that N.Y. C.P.L.R. 5001(b) instead required that when "damages [are] incurred at various times, [prejudgment] interest shall be computed upon each item from the date it was incurred." (R&R at 5 (quoting N.Y. C.P.L.R. 5001(b)). Addressing Defendant's second argument regarding tax savings, Judge Brown found that "[t]he plain language of the statute does not support the notion that reductions should be applied for taxes," and even if it did, "no mechanism [exists] for calculating these proposed reductions, which would be extraordinarily difficult to ascertain with any reasonable degree of certainty." (R&R at 5-6.) Finally, Judge Brown ruled that Defendant's contention regarding Defendant's obligation to pay invoices listing "Evergreen" as the payor were meritless because Plaintiff provided "a sworn declaration explaining the relationship between . . . [P]laintiff and Evergreen." (R&R at 7.)
Defendant filed Objections to Judge Brown's R&R which largely reiterate the same arguments Defendant made in opposition to Plaintiff's Damages Motion. (Objections, Docket Entry 89.) Defendant argues in its Objections that: (1) interest should be calculated from the date remediation invoices were paid, rather than the date they become due; (2) the prejudgment interest award should be reduced to the extent Plaintiff will receive a tax benefit; and (3) invoices issued to Evergreen should not be considered. (Objections at 1-2.) Defendant further requests "limited discovery" on the latter two issues. (Objections at 2.)
The Court will first address the standard of review before turning to Defendant's objections specifically.
"When evaluating the report and recommendation of a magistrate judge, the district court may adopt those portions of the report to which no objections have been made and which are not facially erroneous."
When a party raises an objection to a magistrate judge's report, the Court must conduct a
Furthermore, even in a de novo review of a party's specific objections, the Court ordinarily will not consider "arguments, case law and/or evidentiary material which could have been, but [were] not, presented to the magistrate judge in the first instance."
It is apparent that Defendant's Objections merely rehash the same arguments Defendant made in opposition to Plaintiff's initial Damages Motion. When a party "simply reiterates his original arguments" in its Objections, the Court need only review the Magistrate Judge's Report and Recommendation for clear error.
Judge Brown's R&R (Docket Entry 88) is ADOPTED in its entirety and Plaintiff's Damages Motion (Docket Entry 82) is GRANTED. The Clerk of the Court is therefore directed to enter judgment in favor of Plaintiff and against Defendant according to the calculations within Plaintiff's Motion for Damages (Docket Entry 82). Further, the Clerk of the Court is directed to TERMINATE Plaintiff's alternative damages motion (Docket Entry 85).
SO ORDERED.