Senate Bill No. 560
(By Senator Oliverio)
____________
[Introduced February 17, 2003; referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary.]
____________
A BILL to amend and reenact section thirty-one, article six,
chapter fifty-six of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to providing
that prejudgment and post-judgment interest be based on the
prime interest rate plus two percent.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section thirty-one, article six, chapter fifty-six of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 6. TRIAL.
§56-6-31. Interest on judgment or decree.
Except where it is otherwise provided by law, every judgment
or decree for the payment of money entered by any court of this
state shall bear interest from the date thereof, whether it be so
stated in the judgment or decree or not: Provided, That if the judgment or decree, or any part thereof, is for special damages, as
defined below, or for liquidated damages, the amount of such
special or liquidated damages shall bear interest from the date the
right to bring the same shall have accrued, as determined by the
court. Special damages includes lost wages and income, medical
expenses, damages to tangible personal property, and similar out-
of-pocket expenditures, as determined by the court. The rate of
interest shall be ten dollars upon one hundred dollars per annum,
and proportionately for a greater or lesser sum, or for a longer or
shorter time, notwithstanding any other provisions of law. The
interest rate is a per annum interest rate calculated as the
current prime rate plus two percent, each rounded to the nearest
whole percent. The prime interest rate shall be the interest rate
published in the Wall Street Journal newspaper reflecting the base
rate on corporate loans posted by at least seventy-five percent of
the thirty largest banks in the United States.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to change the interest rate
on prejudgment and post judgment decisions from ten percent to a
per annum interest rate calculated as the current prime rate plus
two percent, each rounded to the nearest whole percent.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.