Pre-Judgment and Put up-Judgment Curiosity | Actual Property Legislation Weblog

Pre-Judgment and Put up-Judgment Curiosity

Q: If I’ve to sue to get my fee paid, do I get curiosity on the unpaid quantity?

A: The Florida Statutes present that the plaintiff in a lawsuit is entitled to judgment on the quantities being sued for, each after and doubtlessly earlier than a judgment is entered.

As soon as a cash judgment is entered, curiosity will accrue on the statutory rate of interest set forth in Part 55.03 of the Florida Statutes. This statutory fee is revised each three months utilizing a components set forth within the statute.

This post-judgment curiosity is calculated on the statutory fee in impact on the time the judgment is entered, and is revised each January 1, thereafter, to no matter statutory fee is then in impact, till it’s paid. So, if a judgment stays excellent for greater than a 12 months, figuring out the curiosity due would require a year-by-year calculation of the accrued curiosity.

However what in regards to the curiosity that accrues on quantities you might be owed within the months or years earlier than a judgment is entered?

A profitable plaintiff is entitled to this so-called pre-judgment curiosity provided that the damages being sought are “liquidated.” To ensure that your damages to be thought-about liquidated, it’s essential to be entitled to a particular sum of money as of a particular date.

For instance, for those who have been entitled to be paid a fee which may very well be calculated as of a particular cut-off date, you’ll be entitled to say pre-judgment curiosity. Nonetheless, for those who’re searching for unspecified or subjective damages, equivalent to could be sought in a private harm case, or in a breach of contract motion regarding one thing apart from the straightforward cost of cash, then pre-judgment curiosity is not going to be obtainable.

Whereas pre-judgment curiosity additionally accrues on the statutory fee, in contrast to the calculation of post-judgment curiosity, which entails making use of the statutory rate of interest in impact on the time of the judgment, and revising that fee on January 1 of every 12 months, pre-judgment curiosity might be calculated on the statutory fee in impact on the date the debt was initially due, from that date till the date the judgment is entered in your favor.

See Morris-Piard v. Piard, 198 So.3d 656, 657 (Fla. 2^nd DCA 2015); Genser v. Reef Condominium Affiliation, Inc., 100 So.3d 760, 762 (Fla. 4^th DCA 2012); and Trigeorgis v. Trigeorgis, 240 So.3d 772, 776 (Fla. 4^th DCA 2018).