Court Opinion

ID: 9603568
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 02:08:00.614922+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:11:26.611042
License: Public Domain

TURSI, Judge,
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
I dissent only from that part of the majority opinion addressing the question of prejudgment interest.
Third-party defendants challenge the granting of prejudgment interest as being in violation of § 13-21-101, C.R.S. (1987 Repl.Vol. 6B). Although the record before us is inadequate to make a determination of whether third-party plaintiff’s request for prejudgment interest was filed prior to the entry of judgment, I conclude that that issue is rendered moot by the action of the third-party defendants in appealing the judgment in favor of the third-party plaintiff.
Section 13-21-101 must be read as a whole, giving meaning to all of its parts. Section 13-21-101(1) was amended (Colo. Sess.Laws 1982, ch. 39 at 227) by an addition providing:
“(l)(a) ... On and after January 1, 1983, if a judgment for money in an action brought to recover damages for personal injuries is appealed by the judgment debtor, interest, whether prejudgment or postjudgment, shall be calculated on such sum at the rate set forth in subsections (3) and (4) of this section from the date the action accrued and shall include compounding of interest anuálly from the date such suit was filed.
“(2Xa) If a judgment for money in an action brought to recover damages for personal injuries is appealed by a judgment debtor and the judgment is affirmed, interest, as set out in subsections (3) and (4) of this section, shall be payable from the date the action accrued until satisfaction of the judgment.”
Section 13-21-101(2)(a) applies here since this personal injury action was filed after January 1, 1983, the third-party defendants as judgment debtors have appealed those judgments, and those judgments are affirmed. Thus, Clark v. Hicks, 127 Colo. 25, 252 P.2d 1067 (1953), is no longer controlling. Accordingly, I conclude that the third-party plaintiff is entitled to prejudgment interest from the date the action accrued as a matter of law.
Thus, in the interest of judicial economy, I would remand this matter to the trial court with directions to enter prejudgment interest from the date of the accrual of the action in accordance with § 13-21-101.