31 A.2d 279 | Pa. | 1943
As appears in the prior appeal between these parties the defendant surety company (Appellant) became liable to pay $10,000. to the plaintiff (Appellee). We directed judgment to be entered in favor of the Appellee "in the sum of $10,000 with interest". Our opinion is reported in
Appellant maintains in the present proceeding that such interest runs from the date when our opinion was filed. Appellee contends, and it was so decided by the Court below, that interest should be calculated from the date when demand was made upon the surety upon its bond, which was the date of suit. We agree with the Court below.
The appropriate definition of "interest" upon obligations reduced to judgment through litigation is stated in Kelsey v.Murphy,
"Interest has been defined 'to be a compensation allowed to the creditor for delay of payment by the debtor,' and is said to be impliedly due 'whenever a liquidated sum of money is unjustly withheld': 10 Wheat. 440. And again, — but rather by way of amplification, — it is said 'to be a legal and uniform rate of damages allowed in the absence of any express contract, when payment is withheld after it has become the duty of the debtor to discharge his debt'." See also Mack Paving Construction Company v. American Pipe Construction Company,
Under this definition, as prerequisites to running of interest, the debt must have been liquidated with some degree of certainty and the duty to pay it must have become fixed:Lackawanna Iron Steel Company v. Lackawanna Wyoming ValleyR. R.,
Many such cases have been cited in Appellant's paper book but obviously they have no application to the present situation. Here the debt was liquidated by the audit. The judgment against the principal on the bond established his liability as well as that of his surety. Interest on official bonds runs from the date demand was made upon the surety, despite the fact that liability may be contested: Pennsylvania Company for Insuranceson Lives, etc. v. Swain,
Order affirmed at cost of Appellant. *494