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A small claims court erred in excluding attorney fees from an award of post-judgment interest, the Court of Appeals of Indiana has ruled.
In 2008, Piccadilly Management filed a Notice of Claim for Possession of Real Estate against Shenita Abney for nonpayment of rent and unlawful holdover. The Warren Township Small Claims Court in Marion County granted possession of the property to Piccadilly and held a damages hearing.
Abney didn’t appear at the hearing, so the court entered a default judgment of $1,453 plus $600 in attorney fees, for a total of $2,053 plus costs and post-judgment interest at the statutory rate.
The court entered garnishment orders to collect the funds from Abney’s employers, and over time she paid the principal judgment amount.
In March 2022, Piccadilly moved for a garnishment order to recover post-judgment interest. It claimed that it was entitled to post-judgment interest on the entire $2,053 award, representing both the principal judgment and attorney fees. It calculated the post-judgment interest due as $2,533.32.
Abney again didn’t appear at the subsequent hearing, where the court concluded Piccadilly was entitled to $1,574 in post-judgment interest, representing interest on the $1,453 default judgment but not the $600 in attorney fees.
Piccadilly filed a motion to correct error, claiming the trial court erred in not awarding post-judgment interest on the attorney fees award. Following a hearing, the small claims court denied its motion.
On appeal, Piccadilly again argued the small claims court erred by not awarding post-judgment interest on attorney fees.
Agreeing, the COA held that Indiana Code § 24-4.6-1-101 “indicates Piccadilly is entitled to post-judgment interest on attorney’s fees.”
“The small claims court asserted the language in Indiana Code section 33-34-3-3 ‘separates the Marion County Small Claims Court jurisdictional limit from the pre-judgment and attorney fees’ and therefore ‘post judgment interest is calculated on the principal judgment’ only,” Judge Melissa May wrote. “However, while the last sentence of the statute indicates interest and attorney’s fees are not considered for purposes of the small claim jurisdictional limitations, nothing in that sentence indicates attorney’s fees are not permitted to accrue statutory post-judgment interest. … Therefore, the small claims court erred when it declined to calculate post-judgment interest on the attorney’s fees.”
The COA remanded for the small claims court to calculate the post-judgment interest due on the attorney fees and to enter a new judgment and garnishment order.
Judges Paul Mathias and Cale Bradford concurred.
The case is Piccadilly Management as Managing Agent for Piccadilly Properties II, LLC DBA Roland Manor v. Shenita Abney, 22A-SC-01904.
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