Court Opinion

ID: 9595807
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 00:43:27.943955+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:01:31.298974
License: Public Domain

THOMAS, Justice,
dissenting.
I am not in agreement with the result reached by the majority opinion, nor the justification offered for it in this case, and I dissent. I view the case a bit differently from the analysis offered by the Chief Justice in his dissenting opinion, although I am completely satisfied that Northern Gas Co. v. Town of Sinclair, 592 P.2d 1138 (Wyo.1979), just as the Chief Justice explains, does dispense with the requirement of notice by the State of Wyoming to BHP Petroleum Company, Inc. in order to recover interest in this instance. It is painfully clear that, since BHP Petroleum Company Inc. was marketing the gas, knew the amount that it had received for it, and knew the amount it was to pay to the State of Wyoming under its leases, there is no more necessity for the State of Wyoming to inform BHP Petroleum Company, Inc. of its duties than there was for the Town of Sinclair to similarly inform Northern Gas Company. BHP Petroleum Company, Inc. had those facts at its command.
There is no dispute that interest generally may be claimed by virtue of a contract to pay interest, by virtue of a statute providing for interest, or by way of damages. See cases cited in 45 Am.Jur.2d Interest and Usury § 34 (1969); 47 C.J.S. Interest and Usury § 6 (1982). It seems to me that the parties, the majority, and the Chief Justice have not recognized the proposition that our Wyoming cases, e.g., O’s Gold *678Seed Co. v. United Agri-Products Financial Services, Inc., 761 P.2d 673 (Wyo.1988); Miles v. C.E.C. Homes, Inc., 753 P.2d 1021 (Wyo.1988); Bueno v. C.F. & I. Steel Corporation, 773 P.2d 937 (Wyo.1989); Goodwin v. Upper Crust of Wyoming, Inc., 624 P.2d 1192 (Wyo.1981); Northern; Rissler & McMurry Co. v. Atlantic Richfield Co., 559 P.2d 25 (Wyo.1977), all involve situations in which interest was claimed by way of damages for breach of contract. The statute was invoked only to establish the rate of interest, and none of those cases appear to rely upon an express or implied agreement to pay interest.
Neither does the State of Wyoming apparently rely upon either an express or implied agreement to pay interest. In relying upon Rissler, the State of Wyoming is invoking its right to recover interest as damages. As damages, the right to interest encounters the quaint rule that interest recoverable as damages does not constitute a distinct claim and can only be recovered in an action brought to recover the principal. This rule leads to a denial of interest as a separate claim after payment has been made. See cases cited in 25 C.J.S. Damages § 52, 793-94, nn. 91-93 (1966). This rule is not without its exceptions, however, and interest generally will be allowed for its detention when money belonging to another is not paid over to the person entitled to receive it at the time it should be paid. See cases cited under 25 C.J.S. Damages § 52, n. 80 (1966). There does seem to be a general accord that concepts of equity, which the State of Wyoming really argues here, may require that interest be paid in order to do justice.
That is how I see this case. While the allowance of interest may well be a matter of discretion with the trial court, given the situation in which BHP Petroleum Company, Inc. had the exclusive knowledge of the receipt of the monies, knew of its duty to pay them monthly to the State of Wyoming, presumably utilized the money in the operations of its own business, and did not pay them over for several years, justice should require the payment of interest for the detention of these monies. I recognize that the reason for non-payment was inadvertence on the part of BHP Petroleum Company, Inc. That fact does not lead to a conclusion that BHP Petroleum Company, Inc.’s use of the state money was just. Certainly, it does not serve to justify a decision that does not award interest for the period prior to the statute. In my view, the trial court did abuse its discretion in the failure to award interest in this case for the period of time prior to December 1, 1982, and I would reverse that aspect of the trial court’s decision.