Opinion ID: 877417
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: trial court's award of interest

Text: The trial court awarded the landlords interest on the rental payments at the rate of 6 percent per annum from the due date of each payment as rent on the premises. Essentially, the trial court determined that interest should accrue as of the time that each rental payment became due. The record clearly shows that in February 1975, the landlords refused to accept the $650 monthly rent payment tendered by the tenant. The tenant then filed a lawsuit and tendered the $650 monthly payments into court. He had no other choice, as the landlords prevented him from paying his debt as it came due. Section 27-1-211, MCA, clearly releases the tenant from any obligation to pay interest: 27-1-211. Right to interest. Every person who is entitled to recover damages certain or capable of being made certain by calculation and the right to recover which is vested in him upon a particular day is entitled also to recover interest thereon from that day except during such time as the debtor is prevented by law or by the act of the creditor from paying the debt.  (Emphasis added.) Because the landlords were entitled to no more than $650 per month, it was their own refusal to accept the tendered payment, which resulted in the tenant filing a lawsuit and prevented them from receiving each payment as it became due. By any standards, the conduct of the landlords prevented the tenant from making the required payments. The tenant should not be penalized for attempting to comply with the terms of the lease agreement, nor should the landlords be rewarded for unjustifiably refusing to accept the payments. The order allowing interest is reversed.