Permits pre-judgment interest in personal injury actions including product liability, contract actions, actions regarding possession or enjoyment of property and equitable actions; stops running of interest at an offer of compromise without more favorable judgment; specifies times from which such interest is to be computed in various actions.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
4283
2015-2016 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 30, 2015
___________
Introduced by M. of A. BRENNAN, BENEDETTO, ROSENTHAL, GOTTFRIED, CAHILL,
WRIGHT, TITONE, ORTIZ, ZEBROWSKI, JAFFEE, HOOPER -- Multi-Sponsored by
-- M. of A. BROOK-KRASNY, CLARK, COOK, DINOWITZ, GLICK, LENTOL,
MAGNARELLI, RIVERA, ROBINSON -- read once and referred to the Commit-
tee on Judiciary
AN ACT to amend the civil practice law and rules, in relation to offers
to compromise and to computation of interest in personal injury
actions
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Rule 3221 of the civil practice law and rules is amended to
2 read as follows:
3 Rule 3221. Offer to compromise. Except in a matrimonial action, at
4 any time not later than ten days before trial, any party against whom a
5 claim is asserted, and against whom a separate judgment may be taken,
6 may serve upon the claimant a written offer to allow judgment to be
7 taken against [him] that party for a sum or property or to the effect
8 therein specified, with costs then accrued. If within ten days there-
9 after the claimant serves a written notice [that he accepts] accepting
10 the offer, either party may file the summons, complaint and offer, with
11 proof of acceptance, and thereupon the clerk shall enter judgment
12 accordingly. If the offer is not accepted and the claimant fails to
13 obtain a more favorable judgment, [he] the claimant shall not recover
14 costs or interest from the time of the offer, but shall pay costs from
15 that time. An offer of judgment shall not be made known to the jury.
16 § 2. Subdivisions (a) and (b) of section 5001 of the civil practice
17 law and rules are amended to read as follows:
18 (a) Actions in which recoverable. 1. Interest to verdict, report or
19 decision shall be recovered upon a sum awarded [because of a breach of
20 performance of a] in an action based on personal injury, contract, or
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01710-01-5
A. 4283 2
1 [because of] an act or omission depriving or otherwise interfering with
2 title to, or possession or enjoyment of, property[, except that].
3 2. Interest may be awarded in the court's discretion in an action of
4 an equitable nature[, interest and the] at a rate [and date from which
5 it shall be] computed [shall be] in the court's discretion.
6 (b) Date from which computed; type of damage on which computed.
7 Interest recoverable in the actions specified in subdivision (a) of this
8 section shall be computed as follows:
9 1. in an action for personal injury, including products liability,
10 interest shall be computed from the date of the commencement of the
11 action or from a date one year after the date the cause of action arose,
12 whichever is later but shall be based exclusively on special and general
13 damages incurred to the date of such verdict, report or decision;
14 2. in an action based upon contract, or an act or omission depriving
15 or otherwise interfering with title to, or possession or enjoyment of,
16 property, interest shall be computed from the earliest ascertainable
17 date the cause of action existed, except that interest upon damages
18 incurred thereafter shall be computed from the date incurred. Where
19 such damages were incurred at various times, interest shall be computed
20 upon each item from the date it was incurred or upon all of the damages
21 from a single reasonable intermediate date; and
22 3. in an action of an equitable nature, interest shall be computed
23 from a date fixed in the court's discretion.
24 § 3. This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeed-
25 ing the date on which it shall have become a law, except that: (1)
26 section one of this act shall apply only to actions in which the offer
27 to compromise was made on or after such effective date, and (2) section
28 two of this act shall apply only to actions in which a note of issue or
29 notice of trial, whichever is appropriate, has been filed on or after
30 such effective date.
