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Werremeyer v. K.C. Auto Salvage6/30/2003
the letter the next day. K.C. Auto did not accept the Werremeyers' offer, and the case went to trial more than sixty days later. The actual damages awarded in this case, were $9,000. In reality, the Werremeyer's were asking the trial court for prejudgment interest on the punitive damages awarded them by the jury.
This court has just ruled in Hoskins v. Businessmen's Assurance (#61744 June 30, 2003) that punitive damages do not qualify under the statute for prejudgment interest. Section 408.040(2) does not define what prejudgment interest includes --in particular, whether it includes interest on punitive damages. However, the goal of punitive damages is to deter and to punish, Propes v. Griffith, 25 S.W.3d 544, 550 (Mo. App. 2000), whereas prejudgment interest, when awarded, is an element of compensatory damages. Benoit v. Mo. Highway & Transp. Comm'n, 33 S.W.3d 663, 674 (Mo. App. 2000) ("[Prejudgment] interest is awarded on the theory that it is necessary to give full compensation for the loss sustained and is considered a part of the judgment for damages."); Pollock v. Wetterau Food Distrib. Group, 11 S.W.3d 754, 771 (Mo. App. 1999). See also West Va. v. United States, 479 U.S. 305, 310 n.2 (1987) ("Prejudgment interest serves to compensate for the loss of use of money due as damages from the time the claim accrues until judgment is entered, thereby achieving full compensation for the injury those damages are intended to redress."). To award prejudgment interest on the punitive damages would result in overcompensating the prevailing party; nor is it necessary to achieve the deterrence function of punitive damages. See Anthony E. Rothschild, Prejudgment Interest: Survey & Suggestion, 77 Nw. U. L. Rev. 192, 220 (1982). There are no Missouri cases in which prejudgment interest on punitive damages has been awarded. Cf. Knopke v. Knopke, 837 S.W.2d 907, 913, 922 (Mo. App. 1992) ("All the awards bore prejudgment interest except the punitive damages awards and the award of plaintiffs' attorneys' fee."). For the most part, and as acknowledged in Hoskins, supra at 38-39 of the slip opinion, other jurisdictions have refused to allow prejudgment interest on punitive damages. Dobbs, 1 Law of Remedies section 3.11(13), at 528-29 (2nd ed. 1993). See, e.g., Massey v. Farmers Ins. Group, 986 F.2d 1428, at *13 (10th Cir. 1993) (table decision); Lakin v. Watkins Associated Indus., 863 P.2d 179, 192 (Cal. 1993) ("To award prejudgment interest on punitive damages arising from personal injury actions would therefore give a windfall to the plaintiffs in those actions."); Cavnar v. Quality Control Parking, Inc., 696 S.W.2d 549, 555-56 (Tex. 1985). For these reasons, this court holds that Section 408.040(2) does not allow recovery of prejudgment interest on punitive damages. This point is denied.
The judgment is in all respects affirmed.
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Missouri Personal Injury Attorneys
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