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Benson Associates6/11/2002
arding MCL 600.6013(6), " here is nothing ambiguous about the statute's mandate that interest be awarded on plaintiff's money judgment, including costs and attorney fees." Grow v W A Thomas Co, 236 Mich App 696, 720; 601 NW2d 426 (1999). We conclude that the trial court properly awarded interest on the portion of the tortious interference judgment against Vanderbeke that represented attorney's fees.
XI.
Defendants lastly argue that the trial court erred in amending the first paragraph of the judgment, a joint and several award against both defendants, to incorporate 12% prejudgment interest pursuant to MCL 600.6013(5). Paragraph one of the amended judgment provided in relevant part as follows:
Judgment be and it hereby is entered in favor of Plaintiff and against Defendants . . . B.H. Vanderbeke and Bodytechniques, L.L.C., jointly and severally, in accordance with the jury's verdict in the amount of $237,059.55 together with statutory interest accrued on the Judgment pursuant to MCL 600.6013 as of February 7, 2001, in the amount of $224,293.32, for a total amount . . . of $461.352.87.
Defendants suggest that to the extent that paragraph 1 applies to Vanderbeke, the trial court erroneously calculated interest at the 12% rate applicable to "a judgment . . . rendered on a written instrument," MCL 600.6013(5), because the judgment against Vanderbeke was premised on his tort liability, not any written instrument.
According to the special verdict form, if the jury found Vanderbeke liable for tortious interference with the commission agreement, "Defendant Vanderbeke s liable, jointly and severally with Bodytechniques, for the amount of damages" arising from the breach of the commission agreement. [Emphasis added.] The jury found Bodytechniques liable for approximately $237,000 arising from its breach of contract. As we discussed above in section VII of this opinion, MCL 600.6013(5) mandated the trial court's imposition of 12% interest on the breach of contract portion of the judgment. Everett, supra. The existence of joint and several liability within the special verdict, the propriety of which the parties did not dispute before the trial court and which defendants do not challenge on appeal, requires that Vanderbeke bear responsibility for the breach of contract portion of the judgment, including mandatory 12% interest. See Black's Law Dictionary (7th ed), p. 926, explaining that in a situation involving "joint and several liability," "each liable party is individually responsible for the entire obligation."
Because MCL 600.6013(5) and the existence of joint and several liability together require that Vanderbeke have responsibility for the amount of the breach of contract judgment plus 12% interest, we need not consider whether in other circumstances a tortious interference judgment could fall within the scope of a judgment "rendered on a written instrument."
Affirmed.
Mark J. Cavanagh
Hilda R. Gage
Christopher M. Murray
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