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                                REENGROSSED SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL NO. 877

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State of Washington                              50th Legislature                              1987 Regular Session

By House Committee on Judiciary (originally sponsored by Representatives Armstrong, Hargrove, Crane, Appelwick, Prince, Brough, Scott, L. Smith, Wang, Heavey, Meyers, Cooper, Wineberry and Jesernig)

Read first time 3/6/87 and passed to Committee on Rules.

AN ACT Relating to prejudgment interest; amending RCW 4.56.110; adding a new section to chapter 4.56 RCW; and creating a new section.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

        Sec. 1.  Section 4, chapter 136, Laws of 1895 as last amended by section 1, chapter 147, Laws of 1983 and RCW 4.56.110 are each amended to read as follows:

          Interest on judgments shall accrue as follows:

          (1) Judgments founded on written contracts, providing for the payment of interest until paid at a specified rate, shall bear interest at the rate specified in the contracts:  PROVIDED, That said interest rate is set forth in the judgment.

          (2) Except as provided under RCW 19.52.010, 82.32.060, and subsection (1) of this section, judgments shall bear interest from the date of ((entry)) notice at the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020 on the date of ((entry thereof)) notice:  PROVIDED, That in any case where:  (a) A court is directed on review to enter judgment on a verdict or in any case where a judgment entered on a verdict is wholly or partly affirmed on review, then interest on the judgment or on that portion of the judgment affirmed shall date back to and shall accrue from the date ((the verdict was rendered)) of notice ; (b) any portion of a claim is paid to a plaintiff by a defendant prior to the entry of the judgment, then prejudgment interest shall accrue on the amount of the claim paid from the date of notice to the date of payment; (c) any portion of a claim is found to be future noneconomic damages as defined in RCW 4.56.250, then no prejudgment interest shall accrue on that portion of the claim; (d) the judgment debtor has made a written settlement offer that is not accepted by the judgment creditor within thirty days, or sixty days prior to trial, whichever occurs first, if the settlement offer is made at least ninety days prior to trial, and the settlement offer is not less than seventy-five percent of the judgment amount, then prejudgment interest after the date of service of the settlement offer shall only be calculated on that portion of the judgment which exceeds the settlement offer; (e) an established trial date is continued at solely the plaintiff's request, then prejudgment interest shall not be applied during the period of the continuance unless the court rules that the reason for the continuance was beyond the ability of the requesting plaintiff to control; and (f) if the judgment amount differs from the amount claimed in the notice, then prejudgment interest shall accrue on the judgment amount.

(3) "Date of notice" as used in subsection (2) of this section means the date a claimant gives written notice of a claim to a potential defendant, which notice may be given by personal service or by registered mail to the potential defendant at the potential defendant's last known address.  Written notice of the claim shall include the identification, amount, nature, and elements known at the time of claim.  Method of calculation shall also be included.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2.  A new section is added to chapter 4.56 RCW to read as follows:

          An attorney shall not receive as compensation any portion of the prejudgment interest awarded pursuant to RCW 4.56.110(2).

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3.     Section 1 of this act applies to any judgment entered after the effective date of this section.