Opinion ID: 1885856
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Was the chancellor manifestly wrong in denying prejudgment interest to the appellants?

Text: Under Mississippi law, one is entitled to interest from the date that money is due if the amount is liquidated and there is no legitimate dispute that the money is owed. Glantz Contracting Co. v. General Electric Co., 379 So.2d 912 (Miss. 1980); Trinadad Asphalt Manufacturing Co. v. Gregory, 166 F.2d 745 (5th.Cir.1948). The facts in the case now before the Court are similar to the case of Russell v. Russell, 164 Miss. 335, 144 So. 542 (1932). In that case, Betty Russell filed suit against her uncle, S.D. Russell, who was the administrator of Ms. Russell's father's estate, to which Ms. Russell was the sole heir. The administrator had delayed making a final settlement and had used funds of the estate for his own purposes. The Court determined that the awarding of interest in a case such as that, where a fiduciary relationship had been breached, was not discretionary. In the Court's language, the Court was not only right in so adjudging, but it was the duty of the court so to do, in a case such as this ... . [t]he interest as stated must be charged and compounded as the court did in this case. Id., 144 So. 544. Under the decision of Russell, it appears that prejudgment interest is chargeable, and that the appellees are obligated to pay interest at the statutory rate from the date of their taking. This denial by the trial court is therefore reversed and prejudgment interest awarded. The Court finds no merit in the cross-appeal. REVERSED AND RENDERED, AND CAUSE REMANDED TO CHANCERY COURT FOR PROCEEDINGS NOT INCONSISTENT WITH THIS OPINION. WALKER, C.J., ROY NOBLE LEE and HAWKINS, P.JJ., and DAN M. LEE, ROBERTSON, SULLIVAN, ANDERSON and GRIFFIN, JJ., concur.