HOUSTON —The Texas 14th Court of Appeals issued a memorandum opinion finding that post-judgment interest was miscalculated after the conclusion of a trial.
"We reverse the portion of the trial court’s judgment on remand, awarding the Millers post-judgment interest on the sum of $63,186.49 and remand this case for a recalculation of post-judgment interest consistent with this court’s opinion, taking into account Debo Homes’s deposit of $60,650 into the court’s registry and the Finance Code’s requirement that post-judgment interest be awarded on prejudgment interest, which was not deposited into the registry of the court, and costs," the March 3 memorandum opinion states.
The case involves Debo Homes and Laurel Miller and Eliana Miller. The Millers contracted with Debo Homes to build a home in Needville for a total of $178,000.
The Millers paid one installment of $60,300 but then became worried about the quality of the construction and made several attempts to have the quality corrected before they stopped paying on the home and filed a lawsuit against the company for breach of contract, fraud and Deceptive Trade Practices Act (DTPA) violations, according to the opinion.
A five-day jury trial occurred in the case the jury awarded the Millers $60,650 in damages. The trial court then awarded the Millers $3,663.92 in pre-judgment interest.
Both parties appealed the judgment, which was eventually remanded back to the trial court to recalculate post-judgment interest, according to the opinion. The parties then settled attorney's fees and awarded post-judgment interest. Debo then appealed.
"Because the trial court's judgment on remand did not take into account the halting of post-judgment interest following Debo Homes's deposit into the registry of the court, the trial court abused its discretion in its award of post-judgment interest," the opinion states.
The court reversed the post-judgment interest award and remanded the case to recalculate post-judgment interest, making sure to take into account that Debo already placed $60,650 into the court's registry.
Texas 14th Court of Appeals case number: 14-18-00546-CV