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465 So. 2d 140

Docket No. CA 84 0598.

Seals v. Morris

Shellie J. SEALS v. Eugene MORRIS, et al.

Louisiana Court of Appeal

Decided February 26, 1985.

Louisiana Court of Appeal · decided 1985-02-26

Key passage — most relied on by later courts

“[i]nterest on interest is not favored in the law and should not be awarded absent express legislative authority.”

quoted by 3 later decisions, including Burlington Northern R. Co. v. Whitt, 785 So. 2d 79 - Vaughn v. Franklin

“'per annum' simply means 'by the year.' " Seals , 465 So.2d at 140 (quoting Black's Law Dictionary ). Thus, the term "has no bearing upon the issue of whether legal interest should be compounded or not.”

quoted by 1 later decision, including Burlington Northern R. Co. v. Whitt

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1985-02-26

How this case has been cited

Cited by 10 later decisions — most recently June 2008

9 state decisions

50198519902000decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

¶1Jim W. Richardson, Bogalusa, for plaintiff.

¶2John J. Hainkel, Jr., New Orleans, for defendants.

¶3Before COLE, CARTER and LANIER, JJ.

¶4PER CURIAM.

¶5The sole issue presented on appeal of this matter is whether or not the trial court erred in awarding plaintiff simple interest rather than compound interest. Plaintiff argues that Civil Code article 2924, which fixes the rate of legal interest allowed "per annum" on all sums which are the object of a judicial demand, should be interpreted to mean that legal interest be collected or compounded each year and added to the principal.

¶6According to Black's Law Dictionary, "per annum" simply means "by the year"; "compound interest" is "interest upon interest where accrued interest is added to the principal sum, and the whole treated as a new principal for the calculation of the interest for the next period."

¶7Clearly, the term "per annum" has no bearing upon the issue of whether legal interest should be compounded or not. Interest on interest is not favored in the law and should not be awarded absent express legislative authority. See La.C.C. *141 art. 2001 (La.C.C. art. 1939 prior to Jan. 1, 1985).

¶8Therefore, we affirm the lower court's ruling at appellant's costs.

¶9AFFIRMED.

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