Interest can be applied from the determination of liability to Verdict, from verdict to judgment and from judgment to payment. Interest is cumulative, so that interest from verdict to judgment is applied to the Award plus any interest to Verdict. Statutory interest is set at 9%, but it is not clear whether the statutory rate applies to the pre-verdict and pre-judgment periods as the interest is to be calculated by the Clerk of the Court.

The date prior to the verdict from which interest should be calculated is the date from which liability is established. This is normally the date of the verdict, but, in some cases, the date on which liability is established precedes return of the verdict. These situations are referred to as 'bifurcated'. The date of death is the date of liability in Wrongful Death Actions, and is the basic point from which interest is to be applied.

The total Award includes Past Damages, Lump Sums and the value of future damages adjusted for Collateral Source offsets. Most likely, interest should be applied to the total Award, but, in the event that a different value should be used, we have included options to calculate interest on the total Award net of Expenses, the total award net of Fee and the Total Award net of expenses and fees. Interest is to be allocated between the plaintiff and his/her attorney using the selected contingent fee rate.

In cases where interest is to be calculated from a point prior to the Verdict, the Award may warrant discounting to that prior time. In wrongful death,

• The value of future damages is discounted back to the date of death,
• Lump sums are similarly discounted to the date of death
• Past Damages are to be discounted back to the point when expenditures were to be made, either on an individual basis or by employing some average date.

If the Award section was employed, wrongful death was indicated and allocations were made to past damages for the passage of time, the system will have calculated a weighted average date for the past damage payments. Initial past damages are incorporated (assumed to be incurred at death), and the payment dates and amounts for interim past damages.