58 Pa. Super. 574 | Pa. Super. Ct. | 1914
Opinion by
On November 15, 1910, the plaintiff recovered a verdict in the sum of $1,765. After argument, on a mo
In this country, interest is looked upon as an incident of the money to be paid with the. principal when the latter has been withheld after it became the duty of the debtor to pay it. It seems to have been long understood that where it is the duty of the debtor to pay the sum he owes, and the creditor demands a greater sum, the debtor can only relieve himself from liability by tendering payment of the debt. A bona fide dispute as to the amount of indebtedness is no bar to the accruing of interest. If a tender of payment falls short of the sum found due at the time of the tender, interest runs on the whole: Irwin v. Hazleton, 37 Pa. 465; West. Reb. Mining Co. v. Jones, 108 Pa. 55.
When the plaintiff in this case filed her remittitur for "all in excess of $900,” she released everything, whether in the nature of principal or interest thereon, and by her own carefully chosen words fixed the amount of the judgment she elected to accept, on the date of February 14, 1914. On this sum interest began, not on a verdict, the amount of which was in suspense, but on the judgment which represented- her liquidation of that verdict.
The judgment is affirmed.