CHAPTER 12 - 12-3 INTEREST

• Jurisdiction: United States

12-3 Interest

As was seen in Gurski v. Rosenblum,²² at trial, the jury awarded prejudgment interest to the plaintiff. In Goetz v. Hershman,²³ the Second Circuit questioned the propriety of awarding prejudgment interest under Connecticut General Statute § 37-3a in a claim against an attorney for professional negligence and breach of fiduciary duty.²⁴ In Goetz, the court did not think that the attorney's conduct rose to the level where the prejudgment interest statute would apply because it 'only applies to claims involving the wrongful detention of money after it becomes due and payable."²⁵ The district court had relied upon Chapman Lumber, Inc. v. Tager, where the attorney had conspired with the client to evade payment of a debt.²⁶ The district court in Goetz made no such finding so the Second Circuit vacated the award of interest and remanded the case to the district court to consider that issue.²⁷

A plaintiff can recover interest under the offer of judgment statute²⁸ if that would have been awarded in the underlying action where the...