Opinion ID: 2075955
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 12

Heading: Whether the debt was liquidated.

Text: Section 15-108 provides that a plaintiff shall recover pre-judgment interest on a liquidated debt where the other statutory prerequisites have been met. Where the amount owing is unliquidated, on the other hand, such an award is discretionary. See D.C.Code § 15-109 (1989). In Pierce Assocs., Inc., supra, 527 A.2d at 311, we explained that [a] liquidated debt is one which at the time it arose, ... was an easily ascertainable sum certain. Kiser v. Huge, 170 U.S.App.D.C. 407, 421, 517 F.2d 1237, 1251 (1974), rev'd in part on other grounds, 171 U.S.App.D.C. 1, 517 F.2d 1275 (1975) ( en banc ). Even where a bona fide dispute exists as to a debt, courts generally find the liquidated nature of the debt unaffected. Giant Food, Inc. v. Bender, 399 A.2d 1293, 1302 (D.C.1979). Cf. District of Columbia v. Campbell, 580 A.2d 1295, 1300-1301 (D.C.1990); DOBBS, supra, § 3.5, at 165. It is undisputed that the amounts of the official checks and deposits which Riggs must deliver to the District in light of our disposition of the retroactivity issue are easily ascertainable and have in fact been ascertained. Accordingly, the debt which we are considering here is a liquidated one.