8feb01...0007h

6/7/01...1498s

2001 SESSION

01-0310

09/10

HOUSE BILL 140

COMMITTEE: Judiciary

AMENDED ANALYSIS

This bill establishes that simple interest on judgments shall be imposed from the date of the writ or the filing of the petition to the date of judgment and provides that the interest rate shall be determined by the state treasurer using 26-week United States Treasury bills.

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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.

Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]

Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

8feb01...0007h

6/7/01...1498s

01-0310

09/10

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand One

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

160:1 Interest From Date of Writ. Amend RSA 524:1-b to read as follows:

524:1-b Interest from Date of Writ. In all other civil proceedings at law or in equity in which a verdict is rendered or a finding is made for pecuniary damages to any party, whether for personal injuries, for wrongful death, for consequential damages, for damage to property, business or reputation, for any other type of loss for which damages are recognized, there shall be added forthwith by the clerk of court to the amount of damages interest thereon from the date of the writ or the filing of the petition to the date of [such verdict or finding] judgment even though such interest brings the amount of the [verdict or findings] judgment beyond the maximum liability imposed by law.

160:2 Index for Interest Rate on Judgments. Amend RSA 336:1, II to read as follows:

II. The annual simple rate of interest on judgments, including prejudgment interest, shall be a rate determined by the state treasurer as the prevailing discount rate of interest on [52] 26-week United States Treasury bills at the last auction thereof preceding the last day of September in each year, plus 2 percentage points, rounded to the nearest tenth of a percentage point. On or before the first day of December in each year, the state treasurer shall determine the rate and transmit it to the director of the administrative office of the courts. As established, the rate shall be in effect beginning the first day of the following January through the last day of December in each year.

160:3 Effective Date.

I. Section 2 of this act shall take effect September 1, 2001.

(Approved: July 5, 2001)

(Effective Date: I. Section 2 effective September 1, 2001