Opinion ID: 2630877
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 11

Heading: Prejudgment interest on costs and attorney fees

Text: The district court denied the Albioses prejudgment interest on their costs and attorney fees. We conclude that the denial of both was error. Under the plain language of NRS 17.130(1), prejudgment interest is recoverable on judgments awarding costs. [54] Prejudgment interest runs on costs from the time when the costs were incurred. Therefore, the recovering party must prove when the costs were incurred and, if the party fails to do so, interest on the costs is awarded only from date of the judgment. [55] As such, the Albioses are entitled to prejudgment interest on their costs but, on remand, the Albioses are required to prove when their costs were incurred. Should they fail to do so, they are entitled to interest from the date of the judgment only. The parties do not raise an issue regarding whether the Albioses were entitled to prejudgment interest on attorney fees. However, we conclude that the failure to award prejudgment interest on attorney fees in this case was plain error, and we will address this issue sua sponte. [56] This court has not yet addressed whether prejudgment interest is recoverable on attorney fees when attorney fees are awarded as an element of damages, as in this case. The plain language of NRS 17.130(1) states that prejudgment interest is awarded on judgments for any debt, damages or costs. Thus, when attorney fees are awarded as damages, they fall within the plain language of NRS 17.130(1). Accordingly, we hold that when attorney fees are awarded as an element of damages, the prevailing party is entitled to recover prejudgment interest on the attorney fees. As the attorney fees are awarded as an element of past damages, attorney fees draw interest from the time of service of the summons and complaint, as specified in NRS 17.130(2). Therefore, we reverse that portion of the district court's decision denying the Albioses' prejudgment interest on costs and attorney fees and remand this matter for proceedings consistent with our decision.