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Badillo v. Mid Century Insurance Co.6/21/2005
f a verdict for damages by reason of personal injuries or injury to personal rights including, but not limited to, injury resulting from bodily restraint, personal insult, defamation, invasion of privacy, injury to personal relations, or detriment due to an act or omission of another is accepted by the trial court, the court in rendering judgment shall add interest on the verdict at a rate prescribed pursuant to subsection I of this section from the date the suit resulting in the judgment was commenced to the earlier of the date the verdict is accepted by the trial court as expressly stated in the judgment, or the date the judgment is filed with the court clerk.
In construing the above language as to when prejudgment interest is properly allowed thereunder, this Court decided in Majors v. Good, 1992 OK 76, 832 P.2d 420, 422-423 that recovery for either personal injury or injury to personal rights is a necessary element and, in essence, that the phrase, "detriment due to an act or omission of another" contained in § 727(E), did not open the prejudgment interest floodgates under the provision irrespective of the presence of one or the other of the aforementioned necessary elements. Majors, 832 P.2d at 422-423. Majors involved suit by two individual stockholders in certain corporations against two other individuals (officers and stockholders in the same corporations), and concerned claims for breach of fiduciary duty, misuse of corporate funds and assets, and conflict of interest. The plaintiffs in Majors recovered monetary relief but were held not entitled to prejudgment interest under § 727, as the damage resulted from a business loss, not from personal injury or injury to personal rights. Majors, 832 P.2d at 422-423.
In the present case, the jury was instructed in fixing the amount of damages to consider financial losses (past and future), embarrassment, and mental pain and suffering. The general verdict returned by the jury did not distinguish between financial losses and the other elements (i.e., embarrassment, and mental pain and suffering) that were allowed to be considered by the jury in reaching an amount of damages. Plainly, part, if not all, of insured's financial losses consisted of the excess judgment entered against him in the initial Smith tort suit. Although said financial loss cannot be said to be a business loss like that involved in Majors, we believe giving the salient language of § 727(E) a reasonable construction - particularly in light of the examples given for the types of tortious conduct covered, i.e., bodily restraint, personal insult, defamation, invasion of privacy, injury to personal relations - leads to the conclusion that recompense for the economic loss or harm of such an excess judgment is not the type of loss or injury contemplated by the Legislature in § 727(E). Under the general verdict we have before us here, one that makes no distinction between financial losses and damages for embarrassment, and mental pain and suffering, insured is not entitled to recover prejudgment interest on the entirety of the $2,200,000.00 judgment.
Insured also argues, in effect, that even if he is not entitled to recover prejudgment interest on the entirety of the judgment, he is entitled to recover, under § 727, prejudgment interest on the amount of the judgment representing damages for embarrassment, and mental pain and suffering. There can be no question that under Timmons v. Royal Globe Ins. Co. (Timmons II), 1985 OK 76, 713 P.2d 589, when a severed element of damage recovery in the form of recompense for embarrassment, and mental pain and suffering is allowed and separately identified in a jury verdict, § 727(E) applies to allow prejudgment interest thereon. The g
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