Opinion ID: 1710202
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: on motion to assess damages and interest

Text: LEE, J. In Mills v. Jones Estate, 213 Miss. 680, 57 So.2d 496, in refusing the allowance of damages of 5%, the Court said: It appears that neither the Commission nor the circuit court rendered a money judgment. The judgments, or awards, simply adjudicated that the death was compensable without undertaking to fix the amount of such compensation. We cannot fix the amount here. In Stephens v. Moore, 215 Miss. 3, 60 So.2d 391, again in declining to assess damages of 5% the Court said: The lower court adjudged liability but did not render a money judgment. Subsequently in Jackson v. Fly, 215 Miss. 311, 63 So.2d 536, and M.T. Reed Construction Company v. Martin, 215 Miss. 478, 63 So.2d 532, damages in the amount of 5% on the total amount of weekly installments accrued and unpaid to the date of affirmance here were allowed. It is true that, in those cases, the actual amount of the weekly installments was specifically stated in the orders of the Commission. (Hn 4) This question is recurring from time to time, and it has been maturely considered in conference by all of the Judges, with the following conclusion: Since the wages of the decedent were shown, and the commission awarded to the claimants, the widow and children in this instance, the benefits provided by (c), Section 9, Chapter 354, Laws of 1948, the amount of the award was in fact made certain and specific. The exact dollars and cents were determinable by a simple mathematical calculation; and it can truly be said that the judgment was affirmed for a sum of money, and that damages shall be upon such sum as provided by Section 1971, Code of 1942. This is also in accordance with Section 20, Chapter 354, Laws of 1948, as amended by Section 10, Chapter 412, Laws of 1950. If Mills v. Jones Estate, supra, and Stephens v. Moore, supra, are in conflict with what is now determined, they are, to that extent, overruled. Hence the damages in the amount of 5% are allowed on the total amount of weekly installments accrued and unpaid from the date of the order of the commission, to-wit: September 12, 1953, to the date of the judgment of affirmance here. Interest thereon at 6% per annum follows as a matter of law. Section 39, Code of 1942. The motion to assess damages and interest is therefore sustained. Sustained.