California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from Carthen v. Jory, C084767 (Cal. App. 2018):
"Civil Code section 3287 provides for the recovery of prejudgment interest on damages. 'The purpose of prejudgment interest is to compensate plaintiff for loss of use of his or her property.' " (North Oakland Medical Clinic v. Rogers (1998) 65 Cal.App.4th 824, 828, fn. omitted.) Civil Code section 3287, subdivision (a), provides that "A person who is entitled to recover damages certain, or capable of being made certain by calculation, and the right to recover which is vested in the person upon a particular day, is entitled also to recover interest thereon from that day . . . ." "[T]he court has no discretion, but must award prejudgment interest upon request, from the first day there exists both a breach and a liquidated claim." (North Oakland Medical Clinic v. Rogers, supra, 65 Cal.App.4th at p. 828.)
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