Opinion ID: 542860
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Denial of Prejudgment Interest

Text: 33 Steinegger contends that since it was entitled to recover for underpayment of the rents due under the lease, the district court should also have awarded it prejudgment interest on the sums due. For the reasons below, we remand for further consideration of this matter. 34 Under Connecticut law, prejudgment interest may be recovered and allowed in civil actions ... as damages for the detention of money after it becomes payable. Conn.Gen.Stat. Sec. 37-3a. Whether such interest is awarded is primarily an equitable determination and a matter within the discretion of the trial court. Nor'easter Group, Inc. v. Colossale Concrete, Inc., 207 Conn. 468, 482, 542 A.2d 692, 700 (1988); State v. Stengel, 192 Conn. 484, 472 A.2d 350, 352 (1984) (per curiam). The courts have construed the statute to make the allowance of interest depend upon 'whether the detention of the money is or is not wrongful under the circumstances.'  Alderman v. RPM of New Haven, Inc., 20 Conn.App. 566, 569, 568 A.2d 1068, 1070 (1990) (quoting Cecio Bros., Inc. v. Feldmann, 161 Conn. 265, 275, 287 A.2d 374, 379 (1971)); Simonetti v. Lovermi, 15 Conn.App. 722, 728, 546 A.2d 331, 334 (1988); see State v. Stengel, 472 A.2d at 352 (Whether ... enrichment was unjust is the crux of the determination that we normally entrust to those vested with discretion to grant or to deny interest.). Other factors to be considered include whether the sum recovered was a liquidated amount, Sperry v. Moler, 3 Conn.App. 692, 491 A.2d 1115, 1117 (1985), and whether the party seeking prejudgment interest has diligently presented the claim throughout the course of the proceedings, Alderman v. RPM of New Haven, Inc., 568 A.2d at 1071. The fact that there existed a legitimate dispute between the parties does not mean that an award of prejudgment interest is not appropriate. Harris Calorific Sales Co. v. Manifold Systems, Inc., 18 Conn.App. 559, 566, 559 A.2d 241, 244-45 (1989); see State v. Stengel, 472 A.2d at 352. 35 In the present case, the district court made no findings and gave no explanation with respect to its denial of prejudgment interest, and the reason for denying Steinegger such interest in the present case is not clear to us. While the granting or denial of such interest is committed to the court's sound discretion, the uninformative denial prevents us from determining whether discretion has been properly exercised. 36 Accordingly, we vacate so much of the judgment as denied Steinegger prejudgment interest, and we remand to permit the district court to consider the matter further or to state its reasons for the denial.