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Francis v. Dahl1/13/2005
on both the principal and the previously accumulated interest." Black's Law Dictionary 830 (8th rev. ed. 2004). "Annual" or "annually" means "occurring, appearing, made, done, or acted upon every year." Webster's Third New International Dictionary 88 (1986).
Based on the plain language of § 13-21-101(1), and giving the words in that statutory provision their commonly accepted meaning, we conclude the total prejudgment interest in this case is arrived at by first calculating simple interest on the amount of the judgment from the date plaintiff's action accrued (here, the date of the accident) until the day before the action was filed. That simple interest amount should then be added to the amount of the judgment and used as the initial base amount to calculate compound interest annually from the date the suit was filed until the date judgment is entered.
Here, the trial court erroneously interpreted § 13-21-101(1) to mean that the simple interest calculated from the date the action accrued to the date the suit was filed should not be included in the base amount for compounding of interest from the date suit was filed. This had the effect of compounding interest not from the date suit was filed, as required by the statute, but starting one year from that date.
Although recalculation of interest is not necessary here because we have ordered a new trial on damages, on remand, we direct the parties and the trial court, for the purposes of illustration, to follow the hypothetical calculation set forth in John W. Grund, et al., Computation of Interest Personal Injury Torts and Insurance app. K, ex. 2 at 396-97 (West's Colorado Practice Series, 2d ed. 2000).
The judgment is reversed as to the amount of damages, and the case is remanded for a new trial on damages consistent with this opinion. In all other respects, the judgment is affirmed.
JUDGE ROTHENBERG and JUDGE NIETO concur.
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