K. Pre-judgment Interest

• Library: South Carolina Damages (SCBar) (2009 Ed.)

K. Pre-Judgment Interest

Pre-judgment interest is available in a class action to the same extent it is available in single plaintiff cases. In order for pre-judgment interest to be included in a verdict, it must first be pled in the complaint.³⁴ Generally, if not originally pled, an amendment to a complaint is sufficient to place the demand for pre-judgment interest before the trial judge.³⁵

The motion to amend, nevertheless, must be clear and specifically include the claim for pre-judgment interest.³⁶

In Tilley v. Pacesetter Corp.,³⁷ a class action for violation of the Consumer Protection Code, the Supreme Court stated:

Buyers argue they are entitled to prejudgment interest from October 27, 1995, the date the action was filed, to April 3, 1997, the date of entry of the summary judgment. We disagree.³⁸
This Court requires parties to plead for pre-judgment interest in order for it to be recovered. If no request for pre-judgment interest is made in the pleadings, it cannot be recovered on appeal.³⁹ If prejudgment interest is pled for in the complaint, it "is allowed on obligations to pay money from the time the payment is demandable, either by agreement of the parties or by operation of law, if the sum is certain or capable of being reduced to certainty."⁴⁰

In 2006 the South Carolina Supreme Court explicated the sum certain requirement for pre-judgment interest in Butler Contracting, Inc. v. Court Street, LLC:⁴¹

Stated another way, prejudgment interest is allowed on a claim of liquidated damages; i.e., the sum is certain or capable...