§ 78B-5-824. Personal injury judgments -- Interest authorized. (Effective 5/13/2014)

(1) In all actions brought to recover damages for personal injuries sustained by any person, caused by the negligence or willful intent of another person, corporation, association, or partnership, and whether the injury was fatal or otherwise, the plaintiff, including a counterclaim plaintiff or a crossclaim plaintiff, in the complaint may claim interest on special damages actually incurred.

(2) A plaintiff, including a counterclaim plaintiff or a crossclaim plaintiff, seeking to recover damages for personal injury or wrongful death may claim prejudgment interest if for cases classified as tier 1, pursuant to the Utah Rules of Civil Procedure, the plaintiff tenders:

(a) a written settlement demand, including settlement demands under Utah Rule of Civil Procedure 68; and

(b) the amount of the demand does not exceed 1-1/3 of the amount of the judgment eventually awarded at trial.

(3) For purposes of this statute, the determining offer and counteroffer shall be the last written offer or counteroffer timely tendered by a party, provided that the offer or counteroffer is tendered at least 60 days before trial.

(4) Cases classified as tier 2 or tier 3 by the Utah Rules of Civil Procedure or submitted to binding arbitration in accordance with Sections 18-1-4 and 31A-22-321 are not subject to the requirements outlined in Subsection (2).

(5)

(a) Any prejudgment interest shall be computed as simple interest. For first special damages incurred during the year of the occurrence of the act giving rise to the cause of action, any prejudgment interest shall be computed as simple interest accruing from the date on which the first date special damages were actually incurred.

(b) For special damages incurred in successive years, prejudgment interest shall be calculated from January 1 of each year special damages were incurred. The court shall calculate prejudgment interest using a per annum rate, which is two percentage points above the prime rate, as published by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System on the first business day in January of the calendar year in which the judgment is entered. The prejudgment interest rate applied to all cases may not be lower than 5% or higher than 10%.

(6) As used in this section, "special damages actually incurred" does not include damages for future medical expenses, loss of future wages, or loss of future earning capacity.

(7) This section applies to any cause of action arising on or after July 1, 2014.

Amended by Chapter 257, 2014 General Session