CPLR § 5001

Interest to verdict, report or decision

§ 5001. Interest to verdict, report or decision. (a) Actions in which recoverable. Interest shall be recovered upon a sum awarded because of a breach of performance of a contract, or because of an act or omission depriving or otherwise interfering with title to, or possession or enjoyment of, property, except that in an action of an equitable nature, interest and the rate and date from which it shall be computed shall be in the court's discretion.

(b) Date from which computed. Interest shall be computed from the earliest ascertainable date the cause of action existed, except that interest upon damages incurred thereafter shall be computed from the date incurred. Where such damages were incurred at various times, interest shall be computed upon each item from the date it was incurred or upon all of the damages from a single reasonable intermediate date.

(c) Specifying date; computing interest. The date from which interest is to be computed shall be specified in the verdict, report or decision. If a jury is discharged without specifying the date, the court upon motion shall fix the date, except that where the date is certain and not in dispute, the date may be fixed by the clerk of the court upon affidavit. The amount of interest shall be computed by the clerk of the court, to the date the verdict was rendered or the report or decision was made, and included in the total sum awarded.

Official sourcehttps://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/CVP/5001

In plain English

Interest is added to an award for breach of contract or for harming property (title, possession, enjoyment). ★ In an equity action, whether to give interest and the rate/date is in the court's discretion.

Date it runs from: the earliest ascertainable date the cause of action existed; damages incurred later run from when incurred; scattered damages can run from a single reasonable intermediate date. ★

The date goes in the verdict, report or decision. ★ If a jury is discharged without setting the date, the court fixes it on motion — except where the date is certain and not in dispute, the clerk may fix it on affidavit. ★ The clerk computes the interest amount up to the verdict/report/decision and folds it into the total. ★

Marked in the text: penalties, time limits, sums of money. Editorial emphasis added by this edition; it does not appear in the statute as enacted.

In print

This provision appears in Volume 2 — The JG-22 CPLR and in Volume 1 — The JG-22 in Plain English.