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Anderson v. Shelter Mutual Insurance Co.2/10/2004
ne the legislature's intent. Id. The court first reasoned that Section 408.040.2 seeks to make the plaintiff whole and noted that our Supreme Court has found that Section 408.040.2 serves two public policies: "(1) to 'compensate[ ] claimants for the true cost of money damages they have incurred due to the delay of litigation,' and (2) 'where liability and damages are fairly certain, it promotes settlement and deters unfair benefit from the delay of litigation.'" Id. at *23 (quoting Brown v. Donham , 900 S.W.2d 630, 633 (Mo. banc 1995)).
In contrast, the court further reasoned that punitive damages do not reflect amounts of money that the plaintiff would have had earlier but for the delays in litigation, but their purpose is to inflict punishment and to serve as an example and a deterrent to similar conduct, not to compensate the plaintiff for any loss sustained as a result of the defendant's conduct in litigation. Id. (citing Call v. Heard , 925 S.W.2d 840, 849 (Mo. banc 1996)). Accordingly, "to allow for prejudgment interest on a punitive damages award would effect an unreasonable, implausible or illogical result in light of the statute's purpose." Id.
Here, Anderson's demand for pre-judgment interest was made in the amount of $30,000. Non-inclusive of the punitive damages award, Anderson's judgment only amounted to $22,000. Therefore, Anderson failed to meet the monetary requirement of Section 408.040.2, and thus, was not entitled to pre-judgment interest. Points II is denied.
AFFIRMED.
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