Opinion ID: 1310349
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 10

Heading: award of prejudgment interest was inappropriate

Text: In analyzing whether the trial court's award of prejudgment interest to BVC was proper, it is important to recognize that the award pertains only to the demurrage charge in the written contract. That is so because the jury did not find in favor of BVC's breach-of-an-oral-contract claim. Awards of prejudgment interest are governed by Neb.Rev.Stat. § 45-103.02 (Reissue 1998). Elson v. Pool, 235 Neb. 469, 455 N.W.2d 783 (1990). Section 45-103.02 states in pertinent part: (1) ... [I]nterest ... shall accrue on the unpaid balance of unliquidated claims from the date of the plaintiff's first offer of settlement which is exceeded by the judgment until the rendition of judgment if all of the following conditions are met: (a) The offer is made in writing upon the defendant by certified mail, return receipt requested, to allow judgment to be taken in accordance with the terms and conditions stated in the offer; (b) The offer is made not less than ten days prior to the commencement of the trial; (c) A copy of the offer and proof of delivery to the defendant in the form of a receipt signed by the party or his or her attorney is filed with the clerk of the court in which the action is pending; and (d) The offer is not accepted prior to trial or within thirty days of the date of the offer, whichever occurs first. (2) ... [I]nterest ... shall accrue on the unpaid balance of liquidated claims from the date the cause of action arose until the rendition of judgment. We note that BVC did not comply with the written-offer requirements of § 45-103.02(1) for unliquidated claims. Thus, if BVC was entitled to prejudgment interest at all, BVC's claim must have been a liquidated one fitting within the provisions of § 45-103.02(2). Liquidated claims are those where there is no reasonable controversy as to the plaintiff's right to recover or as to the amount of such recovery. Lange Indus. v. Hallam Grain Co., 244 Neb. 465, 507 N.W.2d 465 (1993). By contrast, unliquidated claims are those where the plaintiff's right to recover or the amount of such recovery is subject to a reasonable controversy. A.G.A. Inc. v. First Nat. Bank, 239 Neb. 74, 474 N.W.2d 655 (1991). Assuming, without deciding, that there was no reasonable controversy surrounding BVC's claim, the record reveals no indication of the precise date that BVC's cause of action arose. Conceivably, it could have been at three points: either (1) when NFO failed to timely dispatch the railcars, (2) when Burlington Northern Railroad billed BVC for the demurrage, or (3) when BVC learned that NFO was responsible for the demurrage charge and demanded compensation from NFO. We determine that the proper date for prejudgment interest to begin accruing on a liquidated claim under these circumstances is the date when BVC demanded such compensation from NFO. The record shows that Burlington Northern Railroad billed BVC for the demurrage in March 1994, with a due date of April 8, and that BVC did not realize that the charge should be billed to NFO until sometime in March 1995. Beyond that, the record does not reveal the date that BVC requested reimbursement from NFO for the demurrage charge. As such, we can only speculate as to how the trial court determined that BVC was entitled to pre-judgment interest from May 8, 1994. Because the record does not disclose when BVC's cause of action arose, the trial court erred in awarding BVC prejudgment interest from May 8. Thus, we reverse the trial court's award of prejudgment interest and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.