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Swanson v. Swanson6/30/2000
ry to address this argument, however, because the standard of review applied to a case in which the district court acts in an appellate capacity makes the issue irrelevant. In such situations, as noted above, the Supreme Court reviews directly the decision of the trial court, making it unnecessary to address errors which an appellant believes the district court may have committed. See Henderson, 128 Idaho at 447, 915 P.2d at 9; Balderson, 127 Idaho at 51, 896 P.2d at 959.
E. The Trial Court Did Not Err In Reversing Its Previous Award Of Prejudgment Interest On The Community's Reimbursement Claims.
Section 28-22-104 of the Idaho Code provides for the award of prejudgment interest on " oney after the same becomes due." I.C. u 28-22-104(2). Prejudgment interest awards are appropriate where the amount of liability is liquidated or capable of ascertainment by a mere mathematical calculation in order to fully compensate the injured party. See Doolittle v. Meridian Joint School Dist., 128 Idaho 805, 814, 919 Idaho 334, 343 (1996) (citing Stoor's Inc. v. Dept. of Parks and Recreation, 119 Idaho 83, 86, 803 P.2d 989, 992 (1990)).
The trial court initially awarded prejudgment interest to Jeane on her share of the funds reimbursed to the community. George argued during the first appeal to the district court that no interest should have been awarded. The district court noted that while the trial court's decision to award interest "appear to be proper," the trial court had failed to provide any analysis supporting its decision to award the interest. The district court also discussed the difficulty of ascertaining the date on which a community reimbursement debt becomes due, and observed that "in the absence of an agreement to the contrary, interest ordinarily should not accrue on a particular item until the entire asset and debt picture is resolved, which usually will occur on the date of the divorce decree." The district court remanded the issue, ordering the trial court to "explain the basis of its decision [regarding the interest award] and, if appropriate, to modify its decision."
On remand, the trial court ruled that no prejudgment interest should be awarded. The court explained its decision:
After reviewing the findings of fact made by Judge Neville, this Court finds no evidence of either fraud or an agreement between the parties regarding the transactions. During marriage it is not uncommon that separate obligations are paid with community funds without reference to reimbursement by a certain date. Claims for reimbursement are rarely asserted until a divorce complaint is filed. Where there are multiple community reimbursement claims asserted by the parties, the validity of the claims must first be ascertained and, if appropriate, offsets made. Consequently, the Court agrees with [the district court's] opinion that interest should not normally accrue on a reimbursement claim until all assets and debts are identified for division. In this case, the Court finds no evidence that the parties intended that the community be reimbursed by a certain date. Therefore, the Court concludes that the reimbursement claims did not become due prior to the divorce decree and declines to award prejudgment interest.
On cross-appeal, Jeane argues that the trial court abused its discretion in reversing its award of prejudgment interest. Jeane argues that in Idaho, prejudgment interest is allowed on a liquidated amount or an amount ascertainable by mathematical calculation, "especially when the case involves restitution or a repayment of funds." Jeane further asserts that where a person has been deprived of the use of a principal sum of money from a certain date, and the
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