Rodriguez v. Schutt

• Citation: 914 P.2d 921
• Decision Date: 15 April 1996
• Docket Number: No. 95SC97,95SC97
• Parties: James RODRIGUEZ and Yolanda Rodriguez, Petitioners, v. John W. SCHUTT, Respondent.
• Court: Supreme Court of Colorado

Page 921

914 P.2d 921

James RODRIGUEZ and Yolanda Rodriguez, Petitioners, v. John W. SCHUTT, Respondent.

No. 95SC97.

Supreme Court of Colorado En Banc.

April 15, 1996.

Philip A. Klein and Charles Welton, P.C., Charles Welton, Philip A. Klein, Denver, for Petitioners.

Harris, Karstaedt, Jamison & Powers, P.C., A. Peter Gregory, Englewood, for Respondent.

Wilcox & Ogden, P.C., Ralph Ogden, Denver, for Amicus Curiae The Colorado Trial Lawyers' Association.

Justice ERICKSON delivered the Opinion of the Court.

James Rodriguez was injured by broken glass on a storm door on the premises which he and his wife, Yolanda, rented from John W. Schutt. The Rodriguezes sued Schutt for negligence. A jury found Schutt 70% negligent and James Rodriguez 30% negligent. The jury awarded judgments to James Rodriguez for $275,000 and to Yolanda Rodriguez for $25,000. The court reduced these judgments to $192,000 and $17,500, respectively, due to James Rodriguez' comparative negligence. The trial court calculated interest at the nine-percent annual interest rate prescribed by section 13-21-101, 6A C.R.S. (1987). Schutt appealed. The Rodriguezes cross-appealed, challenging the operation of section 13-21-101 on statutory and constitutional grounds. The court of appeals affirmed the judgments and held that: (1) section 13-21-101 did not establish a floor on the rate at which interest accrues on a personal injury money judgment; and (2) section 13-21-101 did not violate equal protection. ^{1 1} The court of appeals remanded the case to the district court for recalculation of interest at the then-lower, market-determined interest rate pursuant to section 13-21-101. Rodriguez v. Schutt, 896 P.2d 881, 887 (Colo.App.1994).

The Rodriguezes petitioned this court for certiorari, and we granted certiorari on the following issues:

1. Should § 13-21-101, 6A C.R.S. (1987), be interpreted to establish a floor on interest on judgments at nine percent (9%) when the personal injury judgment creditor has been subjected to an appeal?

2. Alternatively, is an appeal-reduced interest rate pursuant to § 13-21-101, 6A C.R.S. (1987), a constitutionally prohibited denial of equal protection to personal injury judgment creditors subjected to appeal?

We affirm the court of appeals holding that section 13-21-101 does not establish a floor on the interest rate applicable to personal injury money judgments. However, we reverse, in part, the court of appeals determination that section 13-21-101 does not violate equal protection. Accordingly, we affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand this case to the court of appeals with directions.

I

Section 13-21-101 provides:

(1) In all actions brought to recover damages for personal injuries sustained by any person resulting from or occasioned by the tort of any other person, corporation, association, or partnership, whether by negligence or by willful intent of such other person, corporation, association, or partnership and whether such injury has resulted fatally or otherwise, it is lawful for the plaintiff in the complaint to claim interest on the damages alleged from the date said suit is filed; and, on and after July 1, 1979, it is lawful for the plaintiff in the complaint to claim interest on the damages claimed from the date the action accrued. When such interest is so claimed, it is the duty of the court in entering judgment for the plaintiff in such action to add to the amount of damages assessed by the verdict of the jury, or found by the court, interest on such amount calculated at the rate of nine percent per annum on actions filed on or after July 1, 1975, and at the legal rate on actions filed prior to such date, and calculated from the date such suit was filed to the date of satisfying the judgment and to include the same in said judgment as a part thereof. On actions filed on or after July 1, 1979, the calculation shall include compounding of interest annually from the date such suit was filed. On and after January 1, 1983, if a judgment for money in an action brought to recover damages for personal injuries is appealed by the judgment debtor, interest, whether prejudgment or postjudgment, shall be calculated on such sum at the rate set forth in subsections (3) and (4) of this section from the date the action accrued and shall include compounding of interest annually from the date such suit was filed.

(2) (a) If a judgment for money in an action brought to recover damages for personal injuries is appealed by a judgment debtor and the judgment is affirmed, interest, as set out in subsections (3) and (4) of this section, shall be payable from the date the action accrued until satisfaction of the judgment.

(b) If a judgment for money in an action to recover damages for personal injuries is appealed by a judgment debtor and the judgment is modified or reversed with a direction that a judgment for money be entered in the trial court, interest, as set out in subsections (3) and (4) of this section, shall be payable from the date the action accrued until the judgment is satisfied. This interest shall be payable on the amount of the final judgment.

(3) The rate of interest shall be certified each January 1 by the secretary of state to be two percentage points above the discount rate, which discount rate shall be the rate of interest a commercial bank pays to the federal reserve bank of Kansas City using a government bond or other eligible paper as security, and shall be rounded to the nearest full percent.....

(4) The rate at which interest shall accrue during each year shall be the rate which the secretary of state has certified as the annual interest rate under subsection (3) of this section.

II

The right to interest on personal injury money judgments in Colorado is derived from section 13-21-101 and is in derogation of the common law. See, e.g., Clark v. Hicks, 127 Colo. 25, 31-32, 252 P.2d 1067, 1070 (1953) (applying earlier version of the interest statute). Thus, we must strictly construe section 13-21-101, id. at 32, 252 P.2d at 1070, while bearing in mind that our primary goal is to give effect to the intent of the General Assembly. See Thurman v. Tafoya, 895 P.2d 1050, 1055 (Colo.1995). To do so, we must read and consider the statute "as a whole in order to give consistent, harmonious, and sensible effect to all of its parts." Id.; see § 2-4-201(c), 1B C.R.S. (1980). We will give effect to the plain meaning of the statute's words and phrases, unless the result is absurd or unconstitutional. Snyder Oil Co. v. Embree, 862 P.2d 259, 262 (Colo.1993).

If we determine that section 13-21-101 is ambiguous, we may look to rules of statutory construction and to the legislative history as indicative of the legislature's intent. See Thurman, 895 P.2d at 1055. However, if we determine that the statute is unambiguous, "we need not resort to interpretative rules of statutory construction" to determine the statute's meaning. Snyder Oil, 862 P.2d at 262. If we can "give effect to the ordinary meaning of the words adopted by a legislative body, the statute should be construed as written since it may be presumed that the General Assembly meant what it clearly said." Resolution Trust Corp. v. Heiserman, 898 P.2d 1049, 1054 (Colo.1995).

III

Before 1982, section 13-21-101 required that the court calculate all interest on personal injury money judgments at an annual rate of nine percent. See § 13-21-101, 6 C.R.S. (1973 & 1981 Supp.). In 1982, the General Assembly amended the statute to require the court to recalculate interest on personal injury money judgments at a market-determined interest rate when the judgment debtor appeals and the appellate court affirms the judgment in whole or in part. Act of March 25, 1982, ch. 39, 1982 Colo. Laws 227. The 1982 amendment did not change the nine-percent statutory rate on judgments which the judgment debtor does not appeal. Id.

The Rodriguezes contend that section 13-21-101 establishes a floor of nine percent on the interest rate applicable to personal injury money judgments. However, the plain language of the statute does not support this argument. Cf. §§ 5-12-102(4)(b), -106(2), 2 C.R.S. (1992) (establishing a floor of an annual rate of eight-percent interest for appealed, civil money judgments which are not personal injury judgments).

Rather, we conclude that the plain language of section 13-21-101, as amended, requires a nine-percent interest rate for personal injury money judgments which the judgment debtor does not appeal and a market-determined interest rate for both prejudgment and postjudgment interest on personal injury money judgments which the judgment debtor does appeal. ² See Ackerman v. Power Equip. Co., 881 P.2d 451, 452-53 (Colo.App.1994); John C. Tredennick, Jr. & Gregory B. Cairns, Collecting Pre- and Post-Judgment Interest in Colorado: A Primer, 15 Colo. Law. 753, 758 (1986). ³

However, the lack of ambiguity in section 13-21-101 does not ensure its constitutionality. Thus, we examine the Rodriguezes' argument that the statute violates equal protection.

IV

The Rodriguezes argue that, as applied, the alternative interest rates established by section 13-21-101 violate their right to equal protection of the laws. See U.S. Const. amend. XIV; Colo. Const. art. II, § 25; Millis v. Board of County Comm'rs, 626 P.2d 652, 657 (Colo.1981) (holding that the due process clause contained in the Colorado Constitution encompasses a guarantee of equal protection). The threshold question we must ask is "whether the legislation results in dissimilar treatment of similarly situated individuals." Duran v. Industrial Claim Appeals Office, 883 P.2d 477, 481 (Colo.1994).

The receipt of interest on judgment is not a fundamental right, see Clark, 127 Colo. at 31-32, 252 P.2d at 1070, nor does section 13-21-101 affect or create a suspect or quasi-suspect class. See Higgs v. Western Landscaping & Sprinkler Sys., Inc., 804 P.2d 161, 164 (Colo.1991). Therefore, any disparity...