The Minnesota Court of Appeals held that a plaintiff who accepts payment under a partial satisfaction expressly reserving appeal rights does not waive its prejudgment-interest claim, and that a broker's commission was ascertainable enough to support such an award.
Outcome: Reversed for appellant.
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(as of 9/30/2026)
Last cited by a Minnesota appellate court in 2010, among the opinions in this site’s citation index. Amendment history from the Minnesota Revisor of Statutes. A later amendment does not necessarily affect this decision's analysis — check the current statute text.Cites Minnesota statutes amended since this decision
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What happened
The facts of the case, in plain language.
The trial court valued the property Mondry received in the 1980 sale at $90,000, awarded Solid Gold a $5,400 commission representing 6% of that value, and denied Solid Gold's claim for prejudgment interest without explanation.
Solid Gold negotiated Mondry's certified bank draft for $6,035.75 and executed a partial satisfaction of judgment that expressly reserved its right to appeal the denial of prejudgment interest.
Solid Gold challenged the denial of prejudgment interest in its motion for a new trial rather than waiting until after execution of the release and satisfaction, distinguishing it from the plaintiff in Summit Court.
The commission was earned as of April 3, 1980, the date on which Mondry admitted the transaction was completed, but the date on which Solid Gold first demanded payment was disputed at trial.
Effective July 1, 1984, Minnesota amended Minn.Stat. § 549.09, subd. 1 to adopt a compensatory policy providing prejudgment interest in most cases.
What the court decided
A real estate broker won a $5,400 judgment against a seller for a 6% commission on a 1980 property trade, but the trial court denied the broker's request for prejudgment interest—interest for the period before judgment. After the seller tendered payment conditioned on receiving a satisfaction of judgment, the broker cashed the check and signed a partial satisfaction expressly reserving its right to appeal the interest denial. The Court of Appeals held this did not waive the claim, distinguishing precedent where the plaintiff had signed a full satisfaction before contesting the amount. On the merits, the court held that under Minn.Stat. § 549.09 interest runs from commencement of the action, and that the commission was readily ascertainable by market-value standards; but pre-complaint interest runs only from the first demand for payment, a disputed fact requiring remand.
- A plaintiff who accepts payment of a judgment in its favor and executes a partial satisfaction of judgment that expressly reserves its right to appeal the denial of prejudgment interest does not waive its claim for prejudgment interest. (*683)
- Under Minn.Stat. § 549.09, subd. 1, pre-verdict interest on pecuniary damages accrues from the time of commencement of the action. (*684)
- Prejudgment interest on an unliquidated damages claim may be awarded for the period before commencement of the action only from the date the plaintiff first demanded payment. (*684)
- A real estate broker's percentage commission is readily ascertainable by reference to generally recognized objective standards such as market value, and a defendant's disagreement over the precise amount owed—or the availability of alternate methods of calculating the property's value—does not defeat ascertainability for purposes of prejudgment interest. (*684)
How the court reached its decision
The court's reasoning, step by step.
Whether Solid Gold waived its right to claim prejudgment interest by negotiating Mondry's payment draft and executing a satisfaction of judgment. Although Mondry's letter conditioning negotiation of the draft on receipt of a satisfaction resembled the arrangement in Summit Court, Solid Gold challenged the denial of prejudgment interest in its motion for a new trial before executing the release, and the document it signed was a partial satisfaction that expressly reserved its right to appeal the prejudgment-interest denial—unlike Summit Court's acknowledgment that the judgment was paid and satisfied in full. Solid Gold did not waive its right to claim prejudgment interest.
Whether Solid Gold was entitled to prejudgment interest from commencement of the action on April 26, 1985 until entry of judgment on May 9, 1986. The plain language of the statute provides for prejudgment interest from the time of commencement of the action, and Solid Gold's claim for a contractual commission is a claim for pecuniary damages within the statute's coverage. Solid Gold was entitled to prejudgment interest from April 26, 1985, the date the action commenced, through May 9, 1986, the date judgment was entered.
Whether Solid Gold was entitled to prejudgment interest for the period between the date its commission was earned and the date it commenced suit. Even though the value of the property Mondry received could have been calculated by alternate methods, Mondry did not contest that he sold the property during the listing period and could have determined his potential liability by reference to generally recognized standards such as market value; a mere difference of opinion as to the exact amount does not excuse compensation for loss of use of money. However, while the commission was earned as of April 3, 1980, the date Solid Gold first demanded payment was disputed at trial. Prejudgment interest is assessable against Mondry only from the date Solid Gold first demanded payment; because that date was disputed, the matter must be remanded for determination, after which interest accrues at 6% per annum until July 1, 1984 and 8% per annum thereafter until judgment.
Key quotes from the opinion
Notable passages from the opinion, in the court's own words.
Cases the court relied on
Earlier decisions the court cited as authority for its ruling.
Minnesota statutes cited
Sections of the Minnesota Statutes this opinion cites.
Cases that cite this one
17 later published cases cite this decision. The 16 that cite it most often are listed here.
- Soderbeck v. Center for Diagnostic Imaging, Inc. (Minn. Ct. App. 2010)
- Creekview of Hugo Ass'n, Inc. v. Owners Ins. Co. (District Court, D. Maine 2019)
- Creekview of Hugo Association, Inc. v. Owners Insurance Company (D. Minn. 2019)
- Marvin Lumber & Cedar Co. v. PPG Industries, Inc. (8th Cir. 2005)
- Coca-Cola Bottling Co. of Elizabethtown, Inc. v. Coca-Cola Co. (United States District Court for the District of Delaware 1991)
- Savanna Grove Coach Homeowners' Association v. Auto-Owners Insurance Company (D. Minn. 2020)
- Simeone v. First Bank National Association (1st Cir. 1996)
- Frederick A. Simeone v. First Bank Natl. (8th Cir. 1996)
- Casey v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. (Minn. Ct. App. 1991)
- Metalmasters of Minneapolis, Inc. v. Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. (Minn. Ct. App. 1990)
- CHS, Inc. v. Valley View Feeders, Inc. (United States District Court, Nebraska 2023)
- Capella University, Inc. v. EXECUTIVE RISK SPECIALTY INSURANCE COMPANY (8th Cir. 2010)
- In re Silicone Implant Insurance Coverage Litigation (Minn. Ct. App. 2002)
- Buysse v. Baumann-Furrie & Co. (Minn. Ct. App. 1993)
- Stinson v. Clark Equipment Co. (Minn. Ct. App. 1991)
- Fette v. Peterson (Minn. Ct. App. 1987)
This list shows which later cases cite this one. It does not say how they treated it, and no review of that has been done. Not a substitute for Shepard’s or KeyCite — verify before relying.
Full opinion
The complete text of the court's opinion as published.
Opinion
OPINION
Appellant Solid Gold Realty, Inc. commenced this action against respondent Jay D. Mondry for commissions due on a sale of real property. Judgment was entered on May 9, 1986 in favor of Solid Gold but its claim for prejudgment interest was denied. Appeal is taken from that portion of the judgment denying prejudgment interest and from an order denying Solid Gold’s motion for a new trial. We reverse and remand.
FACTS
On February 3, 1980, Solid Gold entered into an exclusive listing agreement with Mondry to sell a parcel of real estate. The listing price was $95,000. The listing agreement, effective from February 3, 1980 to August 3, 1980, provided in pertinent part:
*682 I [Jay Mondry] hereby agree to pay you [Solid Gold] a fee of 6% of the purchase price thereof, upon any sale or contract for the sale of said real estate made while this agreement remains in force
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Sometime between February 3, 1980 and April 3, 1980, Mondry sold the property to John Cloutier under an arrangement involving a trade of properties rather than cash. Under the terms of this transaction, Mon-dry traded the subject property and Cloutier agreed to assume a $56,000 mortgage encumbering the property. Mondry additionally received property with an appraised value of $82,000 and a mortgage against it for $48,000.
On April 26, 1985, Solid Gold commenced this action against Mondry to collect its 6% commission under the terms of the listing agreement. Following trial, the court found that the value of the property Mon-dry received was $90,000, an amount derived from the $56,000 mortgage assumed by Cloutier, plus Mondry’s receipt of property with equity of $34,000. The trial court concluded that Solid Gold was entitled to judgment against Mondry for $5,400, or 6% of the $90,000 value received from the sale of the property. Solid Gold’s claim for prejudgment interest was denied without explanation. Solid Gold’s motion for a new trial, based solely on its claim for prejudgment interest, was also denied without explanation.
In a letter dated July 16, 1986, Mondry rendered a certified bank draft for $6,035.75 to Solid Gold’s attorney, which he stated “represents payment in full of [the judgment in favor of Solid Gold], including interest to date.” Mondry’s letter further stated that “[b]efore you negotiate the draft * * * I ask that you forward to me an appropriately executed satisfaction of judgment.”
The draft was negotiated on July 29, 1986. On August 13, 1986, a partial satisfaction of judgment was executed, stating that the “judgment has been fully and finally paid,” and additionally providing:
This Satisfaction in no way releases [Solid Gold’s] right to appeal the Judgment entered in this ease. [Solid Gold] specifically reserves those rights and intends to continue prosecution of its appeal of the Judgment, asserting [its] claim for prejudgment interest.
ISSUES
1. Did Solid Gold waive its right to claim prejudgment interest?
2. Did the trial court err in denying Solid Gold prejudgment interest?
ANALYSIS
Solid Gold contends that at a minimum it is entitled to prejudgment interest from the time this action was commenced on April 26, 1985 until entry of judgment on May 9, 1986. Solid Gold also asserts that it is entitled to prejudgment interest from the time its commission was earned on April 3, 1980 until the time the action was commenced on April 26, 1985. Mondry claims that Solid Gold has waived its right to seek prejudgment interest on the judgment because it cashed the $6,035.75 check and executed a release and satisfaction of judgment. We address the waiver argument first.
1. Mondry premises this argument on Summit Court, Inc. v. Northern States Power Co., 354 N.W.2d 13 (Minn. 1984), appeal after remand, 382 N.W.2d 560 (Minn.Ct.App. 1986).
Summit Court, 354 N.W.2d 13, involved prejudgment interest on two separate damages awards: a property damage award entered pursuant to a jury verdict in a prior separate action and a loss-of-use damage award. The property damage award had been previously affirmed by the supreme court in In re Commodore Hotel Fire and Explosion Cases, 324 N.W.2d 245 (Minn. 1982). The defendants thereafter sent Summit Court’s attorney two checks representing the property damage award, costs, and post-judgment interest. Included with the checks was a letter which stated:
*683 We forward the checks with the understanding that they will not be released from your possession or presented for payment unless and until the [accompanying] release and satisfaction has been properly executed and returned to us.
Summit Court, 354 N.W.2d at 15. Summit Court’s attorney cashed the checks and executed the release and satisfaction, which provided in part that the judgment was “acknowledged to be paid and satisfied in full.” Id. (emphasis supplied).
Summit Court’s subsequent motion for prejudgment interest on the property damage award was denied by the trial court. On appeal, the supreme court affirmed that denial based on the following reasoning:
Summit Court argues that, because its claim for prejudgment interest was completely separate from its property damages claim, the release and satisfaction cannot function to bar its claim for interest. We do not agree. Prejudgment interest is bound up with the underlying damages award. It is part of the damages suffered by plaintiff where the defendant could have readily ascertained the damages and tendered them prior to trial. In this case, the litigation had spanned several years by the time the judgment was satisfied. If Summit Court thought that the damages amount was erroneous because it did not include prejudgment interest, the time to contest it was before accepting payment and executing the release and satisfaction. * * * Satisfaction of a judgment is the last act of a proceeding. As the Colorado Supreme Court noted, “It extinguishes the judgment for all purposes and thereby promotes the interests of certainty and repose.” Dooley v. Cal-Cut Pipe & Supply, Inc., 197 Colo. 362, 364, 593 P.2d 360, 362 (1979). We agree and hold that where a plaintiff accepts payment of a judgment in its favor and executes a release and satisfaction of that judgment, it may not later claim prejudgment interest on the damages award underlying the judgment.
Id. (emphasis supplied).
While the language in Mondry’s letter stating that “[b]efore you negotiate the draft * * * I ask that you forward to me an appropriately executed satisfaction of judgment,” is similar to that in Summit Court, this case is nevertheless distinguishable. Here, unlike the plaintiff in Summit Court, Solid Gold did not wait to contest the damage amount until after execution of the release and satisfaction, but instead challenged the denial of prejudgment interest in its motion for a new trial. Moreover, in contrast to the release and satisfaction in Summit Court which acknowledged that the judgment was “paid and satisfied in full,” the release here was entitled a partial satisfaction of judgment and expressly reserved Solid Gold’s right to appeal the denial of prejudgment interest. We therefore conclude that Solid Gold has not waived its right to claim prejudgment interest.
2. Awards of prejudgment interest are designed to serve two functions: (1) to compensate prevailing parties for the true cost of money damages incurred, and (2) to promote settlements when liability and damage amounts are fairly certain and deter attempts to benefit unfairly from delays inherent in litigation. Stroh Container Co. v. Delphi Industries, Inc., 783 F.2d 743, 752 (8th Cir. 1986), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 106 S.Ct. 2249, 90 L.Ed.2d 695 (1986).
Effective July 1, 1984, Minnesota adopted a compensatory policy toward prejudgment interest awards by amending Minn.Stat. § 549.09, subd. 1 to provide prejudgment interest in most cases. 1984 Minn.Laws ch. 399, § 1, ch. 472, § 2. See also L.P. Medical Specialists, Limited v. St. Louis County, 379 N.W.2d 104, 109 (Minn.Ct.App. 1985), pet. for rev. denied (Minn. Jan. 31, 1986).
The amendéd statute provides in pertinent part:
*684 (b) Except as otherwise provided by contract or allowed by law, pre-verdict or pre-report interest on pecuniary damages shall be computed as provided in clause
(c) from the time of the commencement of the action, except as provided herein.
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(c) The interest shall be computed as simple interest per annum.
Minn.Stat. § 549.09, subd. 1 (1984).
Solid Gold claims that under the statute it is clearly entitled to prejudgment interest from the date the action was commenced (April 26, 1985) until the date judgment was entered (May 9, 1986). We agree. The plain language of the statute provides for prejudgment interest “from the time of the commencement of the action.” Minn. Stat. § 549.01, subd. 1 (1984).
Solid Gold additionally seeks prejudgment interest from the date its commission was earned (April 3, 1980) until the date the action was commenced. Prior to the 1984 amendment, prejudgment interest was allowed on an unliquidated damage claim
where the damages were readily ascertainable by computation or reference to generally recognized standards such as market value and not where the amount of damages depended upon contingencies or upon jury discretion (as in actions for personal injury or injury to reputation).
Summit Court, 354 N.W.2d at 16 (emphasis supplied) (quoting Potter v. Hartzell Propeller, Inc., 291 Minn. 513, 518, 189 N.W.2d 499, 504 (1971) (footnote omitted)); see also Josten’s, Inc. v. CNA Insurance Continental Casualty Co., 336 N.W.2d 544, 546 (Minn. 1983); Regents of University of Minnesota v. Medical Inc., 382 N.W.2d 201, 213 (Minn.Ct.App. 1986), pet. for rev. denied, (Minn. April 18, 1986), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 107 S.Ct. 307, 93 L.Ed.2d 282 (1986).
Mondry claims that the damages were not readily ascertainable since the value of the property he received could have been based on alternate methods of calculation, thus reducing the commission owed. We disagree. In ICC Leasing Corp. v. Midwestern Machinery Co., 257 N.W.2d 551 (Minn. 1977), the supreme court stated:
In determining whether interest should be allowed the question was not whether the parties agreed on the amount of damages but whether [the defendant] could have determined the amount of its potential liability from a generally recognized objective standard of measurement. * * * Mere difference of opinion as to the exact amount of damages was not sufficient to excuse [the defendant] from compensating [the plaintiff) for loss of the use of its money * * *.
Id. at 556 (citation omitted) (emphasis supplied). See Pearson-Berke Inc. v. McIntosh, 350 N.W.2d 378, 379 (Minn. 1984); Tagtow v. Carlton Bloomington Dinner Theatre, Inc., 379 N.W.2d 557, 562-63 (Minn.Ct.App. 1985).
Mondry does not contest the trial court’s finding that he “sold” the subject property during the term of the exclusive listing agreement with Solid Gold. Even if the precise amount of Solid Gold’s commission was unknown, Mondry could have determined the amount of his potential liability by “reference to generally recognized standards such as market value * * Moosbrugger v. McGraw-Edison Co., 284 Minn. 143, 160, 170 N.W.2d 72, 82 (1969). The fact that Mondry denied liability for Solid Gold’s commission in no way affects his ability to calculate his potential liability. See L.P. Medical Services, 379 N.W.2d at 110.
While we agree that Solid Gold’s commission was earned as of April 3, 1980 (the date on which Mondry admitted the transaction was completed), prejudgment interest is to be assessed against Mondry only from the date when Solid Gold first demanded payment. See Pearson-Berke, 350 N.W.2d at 379; L.P. Medical Services, 379 N.W.2d at 110. Since this fact was disputed at trial, the matter must be remanded to the trial court to determine when the demand for payment was first made.
*685 Once this determination is made, Solid Gold is entitled to prejudgment interest at an annual rate of 6% (the legal rate of interest under Minn.Stat. § 334.01, subd. 1 (1980)) from the date demand for payment was made until July 1, 1984; from July 1, 1984 until the date of judgment, it is entitled to prejudgment interest at an annual rate of 8% (the rate of interest under Minn. Stat. § 549.09, subd. 1(c) (1984)). See H.J. Kramer Plumbing & Heating, Inc. v. Scharmer, 386 N.W.2d 742, 748 (Minn.Ct.App. 1986).
DECISION
The trial court erred in denying Solid Gold’s claim for prejudgment interest. We remand to the trial court for further proceedings in accordance with this opinion.
Reversed and remanded with instructions.
Continue your research
- Minnesota cases applying the readily ascertainable damages standard to brokerage commissions and contract claims
- Post-Summit Court decisions addressing waiver of prejudgment interest through partial satisfactions reserving appeal rights
- Practice commentary on computing prejudgment interest under Minn.Stat. § 549.09 across the 1984 rate change
Case-law data current through September 30, 2026. Source: CourtListener bulk data.