091982

July 9, 1982

MEMORANDUM

TO: All Magistrates
FROM: H. Lee Smith, Staff Attorney
RE: New Legal Rate of Interest on Judgments

Since most of the larger judgments rendered in your courts are filed and entered in circuit court, it is not often that interest on judgments will be a significant factor. However, according to S.C. Code Ann. § 34-31-20(B), all money judgments shall draw interest at the rate of fourteen percent from the date the judgment is entered or enrolled until it is executed or otherwise satisfied.

Therefore, in those cases in which there is a span of time between the entry of judgment in your courts and until the judgment is satisfied (particularly when satisfaction is delayed due to an unsuccessful appeal), the plaintiff or judgment creditor is entitled to interest on the judgment from the defendant or judgment debtor at fourteen percent during that span of time.