Opinion ID: 2536393
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: whether the trial court erred in calculating the amount of the supersedeas bond for which prudential seeks recovery.

Text: ¶ 14. Stewart maintains that Prudential purchased a bond that far exceeded the sum required for a supersedeas bond. Prudential's first-year premium was $240,783. Stewart argues that the correct amount should have been .0045 times 125% of the total judgment ($36,901,638.02 times 1.25), which is $207,571.71. In other words, Stewart contends that the total amount of the bond should have been $46,127,047, and the cost of the bond taken at $4.50 per thousand is $207,571.71. ¶ 15. Prudential agrees that the total judgment was $36,901,638.02. The judgment, however, expressly provided for 8% interest [1] of the total amount per year, with 8% being $2,952,131. See Stewart, 969 So.2d at 18 (¶ 1). Prudential estimated the duration of the appeal to be two years. According to Prudential's calculations, therefore, the amount of the judgment plus interest was $42,805,900. Applying the 125% penalty, the total amount of the supersedeas bond required to forestall execution on the judgment was $53,507,375, requiring a payment of $240,783 for the first year. Prudential provided evidence to the trial court in the form of invoices for the premiums paid on the bond as well as a clerk's certificate detailing costs associated with preparation of the appellate record. ¶ 16. The apparent difference in the two parties' calculations is that Prudential included the 8% interest rate in its calculations before applying the 125% penalty. We do not agree with Prudential's inclusion of the 8% interest rate, prior to calculating the amount to be bonded. Rule 8 of the Mississippi Rules of Appellate Procedure provides that a supersedeas bond shall be 125 percent of the amount of the judgment appealed from. ... The purpose of the additional 25% over the amount of the judgment is to cover interest and other costs recoverable by the appellee. Although, without any citation of authority, we held otherwise in In re Estate of Taylor, 539 So.2d 1029, 1035 (Miss.1989) (bond should be 125% of the judgment..., plus interest for an estimated appeal time), we now expressly overrule that case, insofar as it requires an appellee to calculate the amount to be bonded by adding estimated interest to the 125% amount to be bonded. Thus, we now are constrained to find that the trial court erred in allowing Prudential to include estimated interest as part of the judgment on which interest was to accrue. The result was an inflated and unnecessary amount to be bonded. On remand, the trial court must, consistent with this opinion, recalculate Prudential's costs.