Affirms trial court award of prejudgment interest on judgment entered in favor of Gradex

UNPUBLISHED

Tri-County Conservancy District ("Tri-County") appeals the trial court’s award of prejudgment interest in the amount of $200,437.65 on a judgment totaling $283,149.38 entered in favor of Gradex, Inc. The restated issues before us are:

(I) Whether the trial court properly determined that Gradex is entitled to prejudgment interest; and

(II) Whether the accrual of prejudgment interest should have partially stopped after Tri-County tendered $218,870.62 to the trial court clerk at an earlier stage of the litigation.

Conclusion (slip op. at 14): The trial court did not err in awarding prejudgment interest to Gradex in the amount of $200,437.65. We affirm.

Key Analysis (slip op. at 11, 12): The fact that a plaintiff ultimately recovers an amount different than what it originally sought does not preclude an award of prejudgment interest, so long as the amount ultimately awarded was readily ascertainable and arrived at by simple calculation . . . many disputed contract cases involve competing contract interpretation arguments, but that fact alone does not preclude an award of prejudgment interest when interpretation of the contract is settled and the amount of damages becomes readily ascertainable.